Twelve-year-old Lisbet MacLean is on a mission – a mission to help others.
“I am a shameless idealist,” MacLean said proudly.
The Victoria Cross Public School student added, “I may only be 12 years old, but I know I can make a difference.”
MacLean, her friends, local students, and the community have helped to raise over $25,000 to build a school in Kenya,
Some of those friends helped to serve breakfast to members of the Mount Forest Chamber of Commerce on May 13 as MacLean spoke to them about what has been accomplished by their group so far,
Retired teacher Donna McFarlane started the discussion with chamber members about Me to We and Free the Children and the impact it has had on local students.
“Thanks to the amazing community support, we’ve raised $25,000. Lisbet and I are two of the 21 people who are going to Kenya this summer to work in a village called Osenetoi. We’re going to be working on building a school and helping them to find better water.”
MacLean spoke of the Me to We event held in Kitchener earlier this year.
“I was there. It was filled with music, 6,000 area students, the founders of Free The Children, Craig and Marc Kielburger, and other motivational speakers like Pinball Clemens, Jessie Jackson, Al Gore, and Spencer West.”
MacLean explained the event was to promote youth and adults alike to become activists “to positively transform our communities and our world.”
She then spoke about the Me to We program, Free the Children, and her plans for Kenya.
MacLean said that when founder Craig Kielburger was just 12, he read a Newspaper article about a boy slave who was murdered in India.
The boy had been working at a carpet factory for most of his life. His parents had gone into debt, and instead of paying the money, they sold their 4 year old child.
When he was 10, he escaped the carpet factory, but did not go back to his family. Instead, he decided to share the awful truth with America about child labour, where he worked, and what had happened to him.
MacLean said when the boy returned to Pakistan, he was shot while riding his bicycle.
“His murder still remains a mystery,” she said. “The assassination backfired and caused more media attention … and soon the whole world read this boy’s story.”
That was the story Kielburger read. He was so shocked, he bought the Newspaper article to his school and showed his class. Though hesitant to begin with, 11 others joined him.
They were initially “known as the 12 12-year-olds. That worked until one of them turned thirteen,” MacLean said. They renamed themselves Free the Children.
“To see for himself,” MacLean said Kielburger travelled to India in 1995. What he saw confirmed the stories, he had heard and read.
“I learned about the Kielburger brothers and Free the Children last year when one of my teachers started a Free The Children group at my school.” She said, “Together with other local schools (St. Marys and Wellington Heights Secondary School) we began a project to raise funds to build a school.”
That included bake sales, a vow of silence day, selling grilled cheese sandwich lunches, an art auction, and they collected jars and jars of pennies, she said.
“The plan is to work with the community towards sustainable development in order to break the cycle of poverty.”
Students have now raised $25,000 and adopted the village of Osenetoi in Kenya.
MacLean said Free the Children works in four areas.
– Education They build a school, a library, teacher accommodations, support teacher training, provide furniture and basic supplies for the school.
– Alternative income Providing villages with supplies such as milking and breeding animals, honey production, and business workshops.
– Health care Including community gardens, basic medical supplies for clinics, workshops showing the importance of health care, and Sports equipment to promote health living.
– Water and sanitation Many diseases are spread in water. Free the Children is giving communities clean water and washrooms in schools and basic sanitation workshops.
“By covering these four areas,” MacLean said the community has a better chance to become a successful area to live in.
Free the Children has built schools, in Ecuador, Haiti, Sierra Leone, Kenya, Sri Lanka, China, and India.
She was equally excited about the recent announcement that Free the Children will be helping Aboriginal communities in Canada.
“Imagine how many thousands of children who have been helped and will be helped in the future.”
She said the new school her group will be involved with will help children get the future their country needs to break the cycle of poverty.
“This is not a charity. This is a hand up, not a hand out.”
MacLean’s goal is to be part of the group building the school in Kenya. She is able to walk to school in Mount Forest and get an education, see friends, and have clean water and fresh food.
“I want kids in Africa to have these things as well.”
She noted many girls do not get to go to school because they are collecting water for their families.
Those journeys often include trips of several kilometres.
The new school is being built with a water system, allowing young girls to attend school, and at the end of the day, fill their jugs with water and go home.
“I don’t believe you have to be a certain age or from a certain country to help … We all need to work together to help one another. We’re really one big family.”
