Elie Wiesel is an author and survivor of the Holocaust whose accounts of the Nazi concentration camps earned him renown, and whose efforts on behalf of other oppressed peoples earned him the 1986 Nobel Peace Prize. Craig Kielburger is the teen-age founder of Free the Children, a multinational organization dedicated to defending the rights of needy children around the world.

Although these two are separated by more than half of a century in age, they are fighting for the same thing: to help the people of the world develop a moral conscience, a sense of social responsibility and a recognition of the importance of human rights. In separate interviews, Y-Press spoke with them about their work. As Wiesel looked back on his life and Kielburger recalled the inspiration for and creation of his organization, we found that they shared many opinions and hopes.

Their missions

WIESEL: In human rights, what I'm trying to achieve is to sensitize people to other people's pain, to other people's suffering, to other people's solitude, to other people's despair.

KIELBURGER: We're trying to spread awareness, almost trying to spread the light to young people in North America and around the world, saying, "Hey, you know, you can go out there -- you can change things in the world. You don't have to wait till you're adults."

World's needs

KIELBURGER: One of the greatest challenges that we face is trying to find the funds. . . . The world has more than enough; it's a question of if we're willing to share what we have.

Every year we spend a trillion dollars on the military, and we spend $400 billion on cigarettes, and we spend $180 billion on beer, and we spend $40 billion on golf. But all it would take is an additional $10 billion to what we currently spend to put every single child into primary education.

WIESEL: I would speak about the need for human rights. I would say human rights today is a kind of religion, a sacred religion for those who have no religion. And that it's urgent, it's imperative for us to pay attention to people whose rights have been robbed or deprived.

Injustice explained

KIELBURGER: I would explain it the exact same way it was explained to me. I was speaking to a group of kindergarten students, and I was starting to talk about poverty and exploitation, and talking about how they can become socially active.

I was not doing well. I was not getting my message across. And one of the hands shot up and said, "Oh, I got it." And I said, "Great, I'm glad you understand -- can you explain it to the class?" And he said, "It's like a teeter-totter. You sit on one side, and if you put someone who's bigger than you, like an older brother, on the other side, he'll win. But, even though he's bigger, if you get tons of people on your side and you fill the teeter totter with three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine people, you win 'cause there's more on your side."

And that's what you got to do. You got to get more people over to your side.

WIESEL: I would say . . . that hate ultimately destroys the haters, not only the hated.

Causes for optimism

WIESEL: When young people go astray, then I'm pessimistic. When they feel a goal and they try to attain (it) with words, with ideas, with passion, I'm optimistic.

KIELBURGER: Many people, when we first started, said to us, "You'll never be able to change anything. You're just young, you're so naive, you'll never be able to build an organization, you'll never be able to do any of this, you'll never be able to help kids." We look back at it six years later and . . . the most rewarding part is the fact that we've been able to do it.

The great part about being a child is you're idealistic, and I hope that never disappears.

Start small

WIESEL: Try in your own circle, which is small in the beginning, which will grow with the years.

KIELBURGER: Well, the way we first started was from my classmates and a couple of friends, actually. I just gave a speech to my school and said, "Come on over to my house." We would meet on Saturdays, and we would discuss all these issues, we'd go do research about them, and we'd present what we found, and we'd sit in a circle and we'd dream up ideas for actions. The organization really just developed around us.

(Now) we have 100,000 members, a lot of teacher and a lot of adult support.

Raising awareness

WIESEL: Read papers. You should know what's happening in the world. Speak about it in class among yourselves and try to do something about it. Write postcards to those people in Africa who suffer from AIDS or from hunger. Write to your congressman, to your mayors about the injustices being done in the world. Learn how to listen.

KIELBURGER: We have every year three or four actions that we field out to our members, and they advocate around those issues. Maybe it's child poverty. Maybe it's the U.N. convention on the Rights of the Child. Maybe it's armed conflict. But one of the most successful actions is when you get 100,000 youth writing letters and signing petitions. That's a lot of letters; that's a lot of petitions. And so when we're able to send this to a member of the government, it makes an impact.

If I could change one thing:

WIESEL: I would change more than one thing. The first thing that I would do, I would try (to persuade) the world not to be indifferent.

KIELBURGER: It's amazing how many people feel powerless in this world, and that's incredibly frustrating. We just want to shout at the world and say, "No, you're not powerless, especially young people. Open your eyes!"

We're not out here to give your life to social justice, but take 10 minutes every day to do something. I mean, tell a friend about it, or research it on the Internet, or write a letter, or sign a petition, or just do something. . . . Ten minutes out of your life -- that's all we're asking for you to start thinking about these issues and becoming active and becoming involved.

ASSISTANT EDITORS: Xixi Hohman, 15; Emily Jacobi, 18; Drew Reissaus, 16; and Tyler Smith, 14.

REPORTERS: Ben Hohman, 13; Julie McDowell, 13; and Stephen Miller, 12.