7 Children Who Changed the World

Posted on September 2, 2011 by Sneha

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7 children who have changed the world by their actions or examples.


1. Thandiwe Chama (1991)

16-year-old Zambian girl, Thandiwe Chama oI Lusaka`s Chawama township has scooped
the 2007 International Children`s Peace Prize beating 28 other nominees Irom across the
world. The prestigious prize was presented to Thandiwe in The Hague on Sunday by Nobel
Peace Laureate, Betty Williams and Live8 initiator, Sir Bob GeldoI. The Prize consists oI a
statuette 'the Nkosi and 100,000 euros, which are to be awarded to a direct aid project in
the spirit oI the young winner`s eIIorts.
In 1999, when she was only eight-years-old, her school was closed because there were no
teachers. Thandiwe reIused to accept this and led 60 other children in walking to Iind another
school. s a result, all the children were taken into the Jack Cecup School. Strengthened by
this achievement, Thandiwe has been Iighting ever since Ior the right to education Ior all
children. Thandiwe continues to impress, Ior example by speaking in church about children
and IDS an issue not always discussed easily in churches. With a Iriend, she wrote and
illustrated a booklet called 'The Chicken with IDS, telling young children about the perils
oI IDS.
'It`s so important to know that also a child has rights. t school I learned about rights. nd I
knew then that this was something I wanted to Iight Ior. Because iI children are given an
opportunity, they Ior sure can contribute in making this world a better place. Thandiwe
Chama.
. Om Prakash Gurjar (199)

t the age oI Iive, he was taken away Irom his parents and Ior three years he worked in the
Iields. Iter he was rescued by activists oI Bachpan Bachao ndolan, Om campaigned Ior
Iree education in his native Rajasthan. He then helped to set up a network oI what are known
as 'child Iriendly villages, places where children`s rights are respected and child labour is
not allowed. He also set up a network that aims to give all children a birth certiIicate as a way
oI helping to protect them Irom exploitation. He also worked to ensure children are given
birth certiIicates. He says such registration is the Iirst step towards enshrining children`s
rights, proving their age, and helping to protect them Irom slavery, traIIicking, Iorced
marriage or serving as a child soldiers.
He was awarded the International Children`s Peace Prize by Iormer South Irican President
FW de Klerk, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993.
. Nkosi 1ohnson (1989 - 1)

Nkosi, born Xolani Nkosi, was born to Nonthlanthla Daphne Nkosi in a township east oI
Johannesburg in 1989. He never knew his Iather. Nkosi was HIV-positive Irom birth, and
was legally adopted by Gail Johnson, a Johannesburg Public Relations practitioner, when his
own mother, debilitated by the disease, was no longer able to care Ior him. The young Nkosi
Johnson Iirst came to public attention in 1997, when a primary school in the Johannesburg
suburb oI Melville reIused to accept him as a pupil because oI his HIV-positive status. The
incident caused a Iuror at the highest political levelSouth Irica`s Constitution Iorbids
discrimination on the grounds oI medical statusand the school later reversed its decision.
Nkosi was the keynote speaker at the 13th International IDS ConIerence, where he
encouraged IDS victims to be open about the disease and to seek equal treatment. Nkosi
Iinished his speech with the words.
'Care Ior us and accept us we are all human beings. We are normal. We have hands. We
have Ieet. We can walk, we can talk, we have needs just like everyone else don`t be aIraid
oI us we are all the same!
Nelson Mandela reIerred to Nkosi as an 'icon oI the struggle Ior liIe. He was ranked IiIth
amongst SBC3's Great South Iricans. t the time oI his death, he was the longest-
surviving HIV-positive born child.
Together with his Ioster mother, Nkosi Iounded a reIuge Ior HIV positive mothers and their
children, Nkosi`s Haven, in Johannesburg.|6| In November 2005, Gail represented Nkosi
when he posthumously received the International Children`s Peace Prize Irom the hands oI
Mikhail Gorbachev. Nkosi`s Haven received the US $100,000 prize money Irom the
KidsRights Foundation as well as a statuette which has been named the Nkosi in Nkosi
Johnson`s honour. Nkosi`s liIe is the subject oI the book We re ll the Same by Jim
Wooten.
. Iqbal Masih (198 - 1995)

Iqbal Masih was a Pakistani boy who was sold to a carpet industry as a child slave at the age
oI 4 Ior the equivalent oI (12) USD. Iqbal was held by a string to a carpet loom in a small
town called Muridke near Lahore. He was made to work twelve hours per day. Due to long
hours oI hard work and insuIIicient Iood and care, Iqbal was undersized. t twelve years oI
age, Iqbal was the size oI a six-year old boy. t the age oI 10, he escaped the brutal slavery
and later joined a Bonded Labor Liberation Front oI Pakistan to help stop child labour around
the world, and Iqbal helped over 3,000 Pakistani children that were in bonded labour, escape
to Ireedom. Iqbal gave talks about child labour all around the world.
He was murdered on Easter Sunday 1995. It is assumed by many that he was assassinated by
members oI the 'Carpet MaIia because oI the publicity he brought towards the child labour
industry. Some locals were accused oI the crime, however.
In 1994, Iqbal was awarded the Reebok Human Rights ward. In 2000, when The World`s
Children`s Prize Ior the Rights oI the Child was Iormed, he was posthumously awarded this
prize as one oI the Iirst laureates.
5. Hector Pieterson (196 - 1976)

Image: Sam Nzima`s Iamous June 16, 1976 photograph oI Mbuyisa Makhubo carrying
Hector Pieterson, accompanied by Hector`s sister, ntoinette.
Hector Pieterson (1964 16 June 1976) became the iconic image oI the 1976 Soweto
uprising in apartheid South Irica when a news photograph by Sam Nzima oI the dying
Hector being carried by a Iellow student, was published around the world. He was killed at
the age oI 12 when the police opened Iire on protesting students. For years, June 16 stood as a
symbol oI resistance to the brutality oI the apartheid government. Today, it is known as
National Youth Day a day on which South Iricans honour young people and bring
attention to their needs.
Since June 1976, Hector`s surname has been spelled Peterson and Pietersen by the press but
the Iamily insists that the correct spelling is Pieterson. The Pieterson Iamily was originally
the Pitso Iamily but decided to adopt the Pieterson name to try to pass as 'Coloured (the
apartheid-era name Ior people oI mixed race), because Coloured people enjoyed somewhat
better privileges under apartheid than blacks did.
On June 16, 2002 the Hector Pieterson Memorial and Museum was opened near the place he
was shot in Orlando West, Soweto to honour Hector and those who died around the country
in the 1976 uprising.
6. Samantha Smith (197 - 1985)

Image: 1985 USSR Stamp with 'Samantha Smith in Cyrillic.
Samantha Reed Smith was an merican schoolgirl Irom Manchester, Maine who became
Iamous in the Cold War-era United States and Soviet Union. In November 1982, when Smith
was 10 years old, she wrote to Soviet leader Yuri ndropov, seeking to understand why the
relations between the Soviet Union and the United States were so tense. Her letter was
published in the Soviet newspaper Pravda. Samantha was happy to discover that her letter
had been published, however, she had not received a reply. She then sent a letter to the Soviet
Union`s mbassador to the United States asking iI Mr. ndropov intended to respond. On
pril 26, 1983, she received a response Irom ndropov.
Smith attracted extensive media attention in both countries as a 'Goodwill mbassador, and
became known as 'merica`s Youngest mbassador participating in peacemaking activities
in Japan. She wrote a book and co-starred in a television series, beIore her death at the age oI
13 in the Bar Harbor irlines Flight 1808 plane crash.
7. Anne Frank (199 - 195)

nnelies Marie 'nne Frank was a German-born Jewish girl Irom the city oI FrankIurt. She
gained international Iame posthumously Iollowing the publication oI her diary which
documents her experiences hiding during the German occupation oI the Netherlands in World
War II.
nne and her Iamily moved to msterdam in 1933 aIter the Nazis gained power in Germany,
and were trapped by the occupation oI the Netherlands, which began in 1940. s persecutions
against the Jewish population increased, the Iamily went into hiding in July 1942 in hidden
rooms in her Iather Otto Frank`s oIIice building. Iter two years, the group was betrayed and
transported to concentration camps. Seven months aIter her arrest, nne Frank died oI typhus
in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, within days oI the death oI her sister, Margot
Frank. Her Iather Otto, the only survivor oI the group, returned to msterdam aIter the war to
Iind that her diary had been saved, and his eIIorts led to its publication in 1947. It was
translated Irom its original Dutch and Iirst published in English in 1952 as The Diary oI a
Young Girl. nne Frank has been acknowledged Ior the quality oI her writing, and has
become one oI the most renowned and discussed oI Holocaust victims.
Source : listverse