/kloc-What were you doing when you were 0/2 years old? A Canadian teenager started a career that shocked the world at this age.
Yesterday afternoon, Koberg, a Canadian who is committed to helping out-of-school children all over the world 1 1, came to Guangzhou. The 23-year-old boy won the highest award for children in the world-the World Children's Award, was nominated for the Nobel Prize three times, and was also named as one of the "20 global leaders in the future" by the United Nations. In the past five years, Koberg has quietly established 15 primary schools in rural areas of Liaoning, Gansu and Hebei. He plans to build 65,438+000 schools in China in the next five years. When he came to Guangzhou for the first time, he immediately set out to set up two schools in Liannan, Guangdong, realizing his dream of cultivating leadership for children in China.
/kloc-When I was 0/2 years old, I made a wish that surprised adults.
Coberg, 23, just graduated from the University of Toronto last week. When his classmates were partying for graduation, he had traveled to 55 countries nonstop, and he left like this 1 1 year. He supports himself with excellent scholarships from his school every year, and all the $654.38+500,000 from lectures and books goes to the Koch International Children's Education Fund (FTC) he founded at the age of 654.38+02.
Reporter: 12 year old child, what made you do such a thing?
Koberg: My parents gave me a lot of help. Every day since childhood, we put the newspaper on the table and read it with the whole family. Not only do we read the news, but also our parents educate us where we need help when reading the newspaper. 1995 One day, I read a report that a 12-year-old Pakistani boy gave a speech against child labor as a former child worker, but was later brutally killed. This report shocked me. I took this newspaper to class and told my classmates that we should do something for them. This is the beginning.
With the support of mother, from this day on, Coburg and 10 children of the same age set up the organization "Freethechildren", hoping to liberate those children who were out of school because of war and poverty.
Reporter:/kloc-Most children aged 0/2 only finish primary school, but you are trying to do something that adults can't even think about.
Ke: If we want to change the world, we don't have to wait until we grow up. Children can also help children. At first, I communicated with my classmates in schools and communities, and later I came to organizations such as trade unions in Canada. At that time, I was still very short, and I could only show my head in front of the podium. But the adults were shocked. They didn't expect a child to have such an idea At a speech organized by a Canadian trade union, many big shots came. After listening, each of them went on stage to donate money. From then on, I deeply knew that even if we children get together, we can do very important things.
Conversation with Mother Teresa affects a lifetime.
After this speech, Koberg's donation suddenly surged to nearly 6.5438+0.5 million Canadian dollars. "What should I do with the money?" Koberg decided to build a school first, but before the school was completed, he had to take the money to Asia to see if the children there needed it.
Reporter: You are only 12 years old. How can you persuade your parents to let you go abroad by yourself?
Ke: My mother didn't agree at first, so I begged her. Finally, she said, "If you can raise half of the trip to Asia by yourself, we will let you go." At that time, it happened that I was about to celebrate 12' s birthday, so I told my relatives and elders that I would advance the money for my birthday gift first, and then I would go around the community to help people shovel snow. Eight months later, I earned 3000 Canadian dollars by myself. In this way, I persuaded my mother.
Koberg spent seven weeks visiting Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Nepal and Thailand. Finally, he decided to set up his first school in India.
Since then, this institution founded by 12-year-old children has begun to exert influence around the world. He has visited 55 countries and won numerous awards, and was received by many heads of state such as Elizabeth II. 13 On his birthday, his meeting with Mother Teresa became a lifelong memory.
Ke: 13 years old, meeting Mother Teresa is the most precious memory in my life. She is a short-looking woman, not much taller than me, but what she said is great. She said to me, "Remember, son, we can't do many great things, but we can show our love by doing many small things."
"Future leaders must have dedication."
In the period of 1 1 year, Koberg's organization has developed rapidly, and now it has become the world's largest charity managed and led by teenagers to improve poverty and education. In 45 countries around the world, more than 1 10,000 teenagers have participated in his organization, and 450 schools have been established in poverty-stricken areas of 35 developing countries such as Latin America, Africa and Asia. This young man has also been rated as one of the "20 global leaders in the future" by the United Nations, and even considered as the most promising candidate to be elected president in the future in Canadian opinion polls. While building schools for poor areas, he also used his years of growth experience to write a special textbook "Cultivating future leaders".
Reporter: You are different from most children in the world. You seem to be too precocious.
Ke: My own growing experience tells me that to change the world, we don't have to wait until we grow up. People of our time should be the leaders of tomorrow, so we must be the masters of our own house from today. I have been to 55 countries, and I haven't found anyone who studies harder than children in China, but children in China generally lack self-confidence and social skills. Future leaders must have dedication and be able to bring their own spirit to others, and this kind of leadership can be cultivated.
In the past five years, Koberg's organization has only quietly established 15 schools in China. In this organization, no children from China have joined before. He put the first step of recruiting children in China in Beijing, and the second step came to Guangzhou. At present, the basic fund for the operation of this institution is nearly 50 million dollars, all of which are raised by the children in the institution through their own ways.
If you want to join, you must write an application before they can approve it.