Leaders, whether in the family, in business, in government, or in education, must not allow themselves to mistake intentions for accomplishments." -- Jim Rohn

"The best parachute folders are those who jump themselves." -- Cited in Even More of...The Best of Bits & Pieces

"As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others." -- Nelson Mandela

THE AMAZING LAW OF INFLUENCE

No Matter what its' Size, A Waterfall Starts a One Drop of Water

Over 200 million children are believed to be employed as child laborers around the world. Most work in sweatshops under difficult or inhumane children. Many are abused, and all are overworked. Although most of these children are just part of a nameless, faceless mass, one child's name became forever linked with the crime of child labor.

Iqbal Masih was just four years old when his poor parents sent him to work in a carpet factory in Pakistan. He was forced to work seven days a week for twelve or more hours a day. The people who ran the factory did not provide any form of education for the child workers, and they rarely fed them enough. For all his labors, Iqbal earned less than a dollar a month.

At the age of ten, Iqbal was saved from the sweatshop where he worked. He became an international symbol of the horrors of child labor. He brought great publicity to the cause of eliminating child labor around the world.

It looked like Iqbal might finally have a chance for a normal childhood. But then, two years later, Iqbal Masih was murdered; some believe that sweatshop owners or others who support child labor had Iqbal killed.

In a Toronto suburb one day, twelve-year-old Craig Kielburger read of the murder of Iqbal Masih, and he decided that someone had to do something about it. Craig decided to travel to the Far East to learn more about child labor.

He began selling off his toys to raise money for the trip. When Craig's parents and relatives saw how serious he was, they helped him raise the money for his trip.

For seven weeks, Craig Kielburger traveled throughout Asia, videotaping and documenting the horrors of child labor. Human-rights activists went with him into some of the worst sweatshops and factories.

When Craig learned that Canada's prime minister was also touring Asia, he tried to get a meeting with him. The prime minister wasn't interested until the Canadian news agencies began publicizing Craig's story.

Canadian citizens rose up in support for Craig, and the prime minister found it in his best interests to meet with the twelve-year-old. When Craig returned to Canada, he showed his videotapes to his classmates. They took up the cause of child labor, too. They created Free the Children, an organization that gathers information about and lobbies against child labor.

Today, thousands of people in Europe and Asia are members of Free the Children. They raise money for their cause, pressure governments and businesses not to support child labor, and push for eradication of the practice of child labor around the world. And all because one twelve-year-old child would not let another twelve- year-old child's death go unnoticed.

-- Source: Kersey, Cynthia. UNSTOPPABLE (Naperville, IL.: Sourcebooks, Inc., 1998), 186-189. Edited by Angela Akers, author of THE O+PLUS FACTOR. http://www.goodstories.com