Global Action Week 2005

"Send My Friend to School"

In 2005, over five million people in more than 115 countries participated in the "Send My Friend to School" challenge.

Their efforts produced three and a half million messages written on cut-out figures representing children out of school. Dubbed "friends", these figures address personal messages to world leaders to demand that the 100 million children out of school do not have to wait at the school gates any longer.

These friends went on a long journey to be delivered to the G8 summit in Gleneagles, Scotland, as shown on "The Big Journey" world map.

Read about each country's activities in the 2005 Big Book - Educate to End Poverty.

Watch the 2005 BIG READ Video:

In Canada, the CGCE got off to a flying start. Information about GCE's Global Action Week was distributed to 11,000 schools and, in response, school children across Canada made a plethora of cut-out "friends". 200 of the cut-outs were displayed at the launch of Action Week, when over 100 teachers, politicians, civil servants and NGO employees ate a symbolic, "breakfast on Parliament Hill".