We Day Pressroom Q&A

On September 29th, 2009 at GM Place, I had the opportunity to interview all the celebrity speakers from Free the Chidren's We Day. Click here for my article on the main event and here for my behind-the scenes look at We Day. Read on for my full Q&A session from We Day!

JANE GOODALL

YT: How are environmental and humanitarian issues interconnected?
Jane Goodall: They are totally interconnected. The Gombe National Park where I’ve studied chimpanzees now for fifty years next year, it was originally unbroken forest right along Lake Tanganyika and when I flew over it in the early nineties, I knew there was deforestation outside the park, I did not realize that it was virtually totaled. So this tiny national park, 30 square miles, about a hundred chimps, with no hope of surviving into the future, looking down, seeing that the people were struggling to survive, more people there than the land could support, no money to buy food from elsewhere. So it became very obvious that without helping the people to improve their lives in environmentally sustainable ways, there was no hope of saving the chimpanzees.

So that began our Take Care Program, and gradually the villagers’ lives improved in a very holistic way, we helped them with farming and education and health and especially groups of women, empowering women through micro credit loans to conduct their own environmentally sustainable programs, scholarships to keep girls in school. It’s been shown all over the world that as women’s education improves, family size drops and this is absolutely essential. So we provide family planning information, which is incredibly warmly received by every village, men as well as women.

So, you know, you can’t help the – there’s no way we can save the environment if it’s surrounded by people living in poverty.

There’s no way we can save the environment while such a large portion of the world’s people are living unsustainable lifestyles, like I suspect all of us in this room, taking more than our fair share of natural world’s resources.

MIA FARROW

YT: Why was it important for you to participate in We Day today?
Mia Farrow: I should start back, I guess. I mean, if I had to think of We Day in the context of my life and really think what it’s meant to me, I mean last year was my first We Day and it couldn’t have come at a better time. I’ve spent my life pretty much banging my head against the wall, is what it feels like, and going to that first We Day, that last year was, I think, about eight or ten thousand kids, and I got such a shot of...it was a real rush for me. So of course when the opportunity came to come again, I said yes. And guess what. I got to meet the Dalai Lama. Yes. And I just, you know, I’m still getting over that, if one ever does.

I should tell you about my Mother Theresa meeting, did I tell you about that? I met Mother Theresa, back in the day. She was at the UN and there had been a documentary about her life. And there was, um, Richard Attenborough, Sir Richard Attenborough, and there was Michael Douglas and his then-wife. And everybody stood in a long line to meet Mother Theresa. And I stood there and I stood and I stood and I stood and I got to meet her and it was just so great that I just went back to the back of the line and I had to meet Michael Douglas all over again and he was looking at me funny. So I met Michael Douglas twice. But I got to meet Mother Theresa twice. So it’s just such an amazing feeling.
His Holiness entered the back, and we were there with the Tenors, The Kielburgers, and he just brought this something that just brought everybody...everybody transcended. Whatever everybody was scurrying around doing everybody just stopped. And he just, like, lifted everybody up to the best as we could aspire to be where he was.

JASON MRAZ

YT: Hi. I’m from a magazine called Youthink which is distributed in high schools around BC and Alberta, so we wondering: when you were in high school, were you passionate about social justice?
Jason Mraz: When I was in high school was I passionate about social justice...um...I don’t think I was. I don’t think I was aware, you know? Our school system didn’t push those issues. In fact, I feel, looking back in hindsight, that a lot of it was left out of our education. So therefore I pushed more...I excelled more in the arts, and I’m grateful for that. And actually I do a lot of work to support arts programs in schools. I feel that’s an important, um...that’s an important muscle to strengthen...is that muscle to be able to express ourselves.

YT: Okay, then when did you become involved in social justice?
Jason Mraz: I became involved, um, you know, it’s funny, I honestly got into music because I didn’t want to have to have a job. And then once I was given the gifts of music to have as my life and my resources, I realized the enormous responsibility I then had in communicating with people and through music, and then through situations like this. Like, “Wow, wait a second. I can’t just be a musical slacker, can I?”

So it was really the gift of music – again, going back to the arts programs – that woke me up, that caused this sort of consciousness within myself.

CRAIG KIELBURGER

YT: You often repeat a quote that you heard from Mother Theresa in India, “You have to realize that in our lives we can do no great things, but we can do small things with great love.” How is We Day an example of many small things being done with great love?
Craig Kielburger: Well, as part of We Day we are launching a national initiative called 10 by 10, and they’re small actions. Maybe for a student it’s carrying a cloth bag instead of a plastic bag, maybe it’s taking public transit, maybe it’s contributing towards Free The Children’s campaigns.

But as part of that 10 by 10 campaign we’re challenging students to give ten hours of volunteer service as one of their actions. Ten hours. Now that’s something every student here can do and we’re confident it’s something that they’re going to bring back to their schools. And that equals more than a million hours of service by Canadian kids. That’s small actions, great love, that I think something is that...that Canada needs to be proud of. That’s sons and daughters of Canadian citizens, that’s nieces and nephews, that’s Canadian young people who are transforming our country.

Or the fact that ten dollars is our challenge for them to fundraise from each student in their school, and we’re very confident, based on the past years, that they will go well beyond that. That’s ten villages, fully built – clean water, health, sanitation, 100,000 lives transformed.

We see so often in the news negative stories about young people. We see so often in our headlines stories of Darfur and violence and suffering in our world. I think Canadians are desperately searching to...and young people especially...to have a reason for hope in our community. And today helps fill that type of reason. You know, ten acts of service, ten hours given, ten dollars, 100,000 lives transformed overseas and 1,000,000 hours of service. That’s small actions with great love.

YT: Free the Children focuses on youth helping other youth. Why is it so important that we become global citizens at a young age?
Craig Kielburger: Young people don’t turn 18 and then suddenly develop a passion, magically develop a desire to vote or serve in their countries. We need to understand from the youngest of ages. In fact, the Dalai Lama said the greatest challenge of our time is that we’re raising a generation of passive bystanders. We need to empower young people. Instead of adults telling them that they’ll be great leaders of tomorrow, and instead of telling them to close their eyes, and indirectly close their hearts, we need to at the earliest of ages as students to find issues that they’re passionate about, to find a gift that they have to give to the world – music, voice, song, fundraising, public speaking, whatever it is – and amass that issue with that gift and to help change the world for the better.

ROBYN WISZOWATY
YT: Robyn, your recent book talks about struggles in Africa. What is something that a high-school student, like me, can do to help solve these problems?
Robyn Wiszowaty: Aw, good question. Thank you for asking that. I think it is so important for youth to get involved in these big problems that go on in Africa, because really truly there are simple solutions. It all boils down to an issue of education, or water sanitation or alternative income programming or in health. It is as simple as that. And by raising awareness about these issues and supporting it through bake sales or car washes or much more fun ideas that you probably have, then this is how we make a difference one mama at a time or one child at a time, but it’s through this way that we’ll truly be able to impact what is going on there.

MARC KIELBURGER

YT: This is Vancouver’s first We Day. How’s the energy out there? Is it different than in Toronto?
Marc Kielburger: The energy is the same, but the actions will continually be individual school based, evolved from every passion. There’s obviously some pressing issues here in Vancouver, as there are in Toronto, but some of the issues are the same, some of the issues are different. But what we want to try to do is just really encourage kids to take action.

YT: This is quite a way to kick off the program for the whole school year. How are you going to keep the momentum going?
Marc Kielburger: Well we have in-services that are happening right after this. Speakers are going to all the individual schools. ‘Cause only fifteen students from each school get to come, so we have a chance to then make this available to all students, which is very special. So we’re really excited about that.

LOUISE KENT
YT: You’re the first musician signed with Me To We Music, and I wanted to ask you what made Me To We music the best fir for you and your music.
Lousie Kent: Well, in fact, we – the Kielburger brothers and I - sat down and we created Me to We music. And because in all of my speeches I use music as a tool to get people really jazzed about making a difference and whatnot, so we just decided, why not? Like, we do, you know, books, we do style, why not do music? Get in people’s iPods and really try and get into that pop culture. It’s so important and that really influences so many kids.

YT: Are you looking to sign a lot of other artists?
Louise Kent: We are looking to.

YT: So what’s your criteria?
Louise Kent: Well, we probably want to be a little bit diverse. We want diverse artists. So anything other than a single female folk player. (laughs) It’s covered. And, you know, people want, like...different styles of music talk to different styles of people. I cannot walk out in, like, grade ten boys, and rock it. (laughs) Well, like, I can probably rock it, but not in their minds, probably not rocking it enough. So you know, we just want to talk and address as many people as possible.

YT: When you were in high school were you passionate about social justice?
Louise Kent: You know what, in high school, I thought it was just the way the world is, and I was a very passionate human being, but I didn’t know that it could change. I just thought “Oh, this is the world I’ve inherited. Meh.”

And it was only until, actually, I read Free the Children, the book, that I realized, like, “Wow, it’s possible that we can alter the way the world is.” And I haven’t looked back.

YT: So from reading the book, what was your next action?
Louise Kent: I joined the team. I was hired by Free the Children as a Youth Coordinator and then started speaking shortly thereafter.

THE CAST OF DEGRASSI
YT: First of all, I was wondering, how are Kenyan children different from Canadian children?
Degrassi cast: They’re not different at all. They just don’t have shoes, or clothes, or like, material nice things. But they still, like, get in trouble, and still get yelled at by their moms and still want to go to school and everything that North American children do, they do too. Just with whatever they have. It’s their environment that’s different than ours.

YT: What do we need to know about Kenya that we can’t read in a book or see on TV, that we can only experience?
Degrassi cast: Culture. A trip. You can’t, uh, for us it was a trip that gave us more than just the statistics, the facts, all the things we hear about. Going on a trip was what got us out of that bubble, that North American bubble, of not having to worry about the world and just sort of being able to put it in the back of your mind and worrying about your day and why you’re sad.

You can’t. Yeah. You can’t read about culture in a textbook. You can’t read about the way that they do their...they live their lives. You can only experience by being there and immersing yourself in it.

YT: Did you come home hopeless or hopeful?
Degrassi cast: For me, I know when we came back from our trip to Ecuador, one year later, I think was definitely hopeful, but at the same time it also made us feel really small. It really made us appreciate the scope of the world and the world’s problems. But our size on that scale doesn’t really matter because it only takes one person to start a movement or make a difference. So I did come back hopeful, I think.

We came back with, like, a drive to do something. Like, the ambition to do something. Before, because, you know, we knew that we were going to make a change, to build a school or a water filtration system. I don’t know if many of us were expecting to come back with so much more, and we did. Which was, which I personally loved. You know, coming back with the drive to even go further with it and to try and inspire everyone else to get out there.

But also, that’s not to say that you don’t come home feeling hopeless, because I remember coming home from both Kenya and Ecuador and feeling just bitter and angry at my friends for every wrong thing that they did and myself for not being able to change what they were doing. So, yeah, there’s a sense of hopelessness, but there’s the drive as well, you know, the hope. The drive to keep wanting to get up the next day and to try and affect some kind of change, even on a small, small scale.

I think that drive is really affected by the attitude of the kids too. That really rubbed off on me. The kids left a big impression.

MICHEL CHIKWANINE
YT: On the Free the Children Website they end their description of you with a Nicole Levesque quote, “You would never hate a person whose story you know.” How has this concept helped you to overcome the tragedies of your childhood?
Michel Chikwanine: Every time I tell my story, everywhere I go, people seem to always find something they can connect their story with mine. And, I think that’s the whole point of “You’d never hate a person whose story you know.” So many times when people see me they think, you know, “He’s just another black American kid or African Canadian kid,” but when they hear the story, people change their perspective, they tend to believe that, “Wow, if he’s gone through something like that, then why can’t I achieve something?” So I think sometimes we need to take a step back and instead of judging people, firsthand, getting to know their story.

I think that’s something that Free the Children...uh...that the opportunity that Free the Children has given me to travel all around the U.S. and Canada has really brought a huge difference in my life from the people that I’ve met.

YT: You’re definitely an example of a youth who has overcome unimaginable obstacles. What do you have to say to other youth, like me, who want to make a difference?
Michel Chikwanine: Keep believing. And always be hopeful. And don’t give up no matter what odds are against you.

For many people...I’ve met many students who have done fundraising who have planned it years and, like, months in advance, and then when the time comes it doesn’t go the way you want. And you lose that hope. You lose... “Why, why am I doing this if nobody cares?” But keep doing. It’s the only thing we have. If nobody does anything then, like, where are we going to be in the world?

If the 16,000 weren’t here, then who else is going to say that we as youth can change the world? So I think just keep believing and always be hopeful and never give up.

JACOB HOGGARD

YT: You and Hedley are often viewed as jokesters, is there a more serious side to you guys that we don’t know about or maybe a specific humanitarian issue that you’re passionate about?
Jacob Hoggard: Definitely a serious side people don’t know about, but I think we’ve spent a lot of time trying to show people a certain side of us, and make sure that someone had something ridiculous or upsetting to talk about, but there’s a lot that goes on in the rest of our lives that for the most part people don’t see. You know, you get to get about 4% of our lives, I think on camera and on television.

And as far as a specific cause goes, this is sort of the period, I guess, in my life, personally, where I’m starting to develop social interests and different avenues, you know, where I can be involved in different capacities. Building houses has always been a talent of mine. I was a carpenter for a number of years before I got into this. So, for a while now I’ve been sort of, really...talking to my management and trying to get involved with a couple of different organizations overseas, building houses, and nothing really lined up, just yet.

And then we finally got the chance to get involved with Free the Children and this is seeming to open up a lot of doors, into this direction.