We Are Silent

On April 17 I am taking vow of silence. Free The Children has a campaign that’s called We Are Silent – for 24 hours participants are going to be silent and not talk at all.

We Are Silent is inspired by one boy and his name is Iqbal Masih. When Craig Kielburger was 12 years old and reading the newspaper like he did every Saturday. What caught his attention was the headline that a 12-year-old boy in Pakistan had been murdered. Iqubal had been sold in child labour when he was 4 years old. When Iqubal was 10 years old he escaped and he spoke out to the world for child labour rights. He won the Nobel Peace Prize and more awards, two years later Iqbal went back to his home and he was shot. Craig was so angry. He went to his on class on Monday and told people about Iqubal and Free The Children was born.

Some Facts:

• 215 million children under the age of 5 are working in child labour.
• One in every three children in developing countries is malnourished.
• People suffer up to 160 days of illness each year.
• Someone dies of starvation every 3.6 seconds, most of these deaths are children under the age of five.
• One billion children are deprived of essential services like bathrooms, education and food.

That is why We Are Silent. (source from We Are Silent Booklet)

These children have no voice to speak out to. Free The Children is giving them a voice. Free The Children is giving not just children but adults and parents things like education, opportunities, food, clean water and other necessities of life. We in Canada take these things for granted.

When I take my vow of silence it’s not just for kids who live far away. There are kids that are silent in our neighbourhoods, communities and schools that are bullied and too afraid to use their voice so they keep it to themselves. They don’t tell anyone – their friends, teachers or their parents. With my vow of silence, I am silent for them too.

Your voice can be the most powerful thing you have. Molly Burke turned blind when she was 14 years old and she was bullied. She didn’t tell anyone. Molly is now a motivational speaker for Me to We and the Ambassador for We Are Silent this year.

This year I have discovered that my voice can be so powerful in many ways through my blog, speeches and more social media. Just use your voice and speak out for what you’re passionate about, every little thing adds up to make a big difference in the world. If all of us use our voice together as one it will be so powerful that it will make a difference.

It is definitely going to be hard to be silent for a day because I’m very talkative. Today I shared with my teachers and my classmates that I am going to be silent and why I’m going to be silent.

On April 18th you too can take a vow of silence for children who have no voice. I’m doing it on the 17th because on the 18th I am going to be on my way to Regina for the JUNO Awards.  I won’t be talking but I will be using my voice through social media. Tonight, I’m sharing my blog and tomorrow I’m going to take over my mom’s Facebook and Twitter accounts for the day.