The Children's Crusade

By RICHARD WOODBURY/AURORA

Barb Vogel's fifth-graders had just been through the Civil War. She had led her 27 pupils through tales of slavery and oppression, struggle and emancipation and how all of it changed America so long ago. But on a February day earlier this year, the class at Highline Community School in Aurora, Colo., listened in shock as their teacher read a newspaper story about a country in Africa called Sudan and the thousands and thousands of people, mostly women and children, who were being traded as slaves there. Recalls Vogel: "There was terror and disbelief in their little eyes." Says Brad Morris, 11, who was in class that day: "No one had any idea that slavery could still be going on anywhere in the world. We decided to do something so it wouldn't go on and on."

And so the kids wrote letters. They wrote to the President and the First Lady, to Oprah Winfrey, Bill Cosby, Steven Spielberg and other famous names. Laura Christopher, 11, wrote Colorado Senator Wayne Allard, saying, "We would like to know if you could contact the United States Government and let them know what is going on, so they can take action and put a stop to slavery!" To Hillary Clinton the kids and their teacher wrote, "You once said that it takes a village to raise a child. Now we would like you to know that it takes the whole world to save the village that will raise that child." The Clintons failed to respond. Oprah said the issue was too complex to deal with, simply urging the youngsters to keep up their grades. Says Laura: "She answered us like she hadn't even read our letter."

But Vogel had also got her kids to explore the issue on the Internet. They found the American Anti-Slavery Group and through it the website of a Swiss-based human-rights group, Christian Solidarity International, which specializes in redeeming victims of religious oppression held in bondage. The children learned that for $50 to $100, they could, through Christian Solidarity, buy the freedom of a Sudanese slave. The group has kept meticulous records and case histories of the 4,016 people, mostly of the Dinka tribe, it has rescued so far. It takes advantage of the market to free the people taken by bandits, tribal leaders and professional slave traders. Says Gunnar Wiebalck, who is in charge of disaster aid for Christian Solidarity: "Arab traders know that we buy them back." The ex-slaves, many uprooted by the country's civil war, are then re-established in society by other Christian Solidarity programs.

The class launched a fund-raising drive, pouring dimes and quarters from their allowances and the proceeds from lemonade, toy and T-shirt sales into an old water-cooler bottle. "It makes me really angry that these people could be traded just like pets," said Doni Taipalus, 9, who chipped in $6 he earned from household chores. Each time the children raised enough to free one person, a brown-paper cutout was pasted on the classroom wall.

And then, one of the recipients of their letter-writing campaign responded. Sumner Redstone, chairman of Viacom, put the kids and their message on his Nickelodeon Channel. News of the crusade spread everywhere--and outside contributions began streaming in. A Texas company kicked in $5,000; a homeless Alaskan scraped together $100; a destitute elderly woman mailed in a dollar, calling it "all I can afford." When Casey Reed, a Wisconsin trucker, heard about the kids on his radio, he sent $200 and spread the message on his travels.

The developments stunned the kids' parents. Says Sandy Morris, Brad's mom: "Our first response was, 'Oh, yes, isn't that nice. But the kids kicked us in the behind and taught us something. Adults get complacent and think tragedies like Sudan are too far off to do anything about. But children don't get overwhelmed by the big picture. They just say, 'Go for it!'" Says Alphonso McDonald, 9, who emptied his penny jar regularly: "I was shocked that the grownups weren't doing anything about this."

Donations and pledges now approach $50,000, and Vogel's wall has long since run out of space for the cutouts. She also has a new class--fourth-graders--to help carry out the campaign. By Christmas, she and her new charges hope to send enough money to Christian Solidarity to have freed 1,000 Sudanese. While that is but a small number of those believed held in bondage (and the spotlight may raise the price of freedom), it doesn't diminish the spirit of the kids. Says Joshua Hook, 10: "This is a big wrong, and we're helping make it a right." Says classmate Lindy deSpain, 9: "It feels good to know that more people will be coming home for Christmas."

--With reporting by Clive Mutiso/Nairobi and Helena Bachmann/Geneva

With reporting by Clive Mutiso/Nairobi and Helena Bachmann/Geneva