(1/31/01) CHANGE Brings the Olympic Living Wage Project to Kent
On Monday, January 29th, the Olympic Living Wage Project came to Kent State. Former St. John's Soccer Coach Jim Keady and human rights activist Leslie Kretzu spent a month in a sweatshop worker's slum in Tangerang, Indonesia, living on the wage of a Nike factory worker: $1.25 a day, to prove to the world that "These are not great jobs for those people. After nearly starving to death, they have returned to the U.S. and embarked on a speaking tour to motivate college campuses to make a stand against the modern day slavery known as sweatshops.

Thanks to the dilligence of Faculty Advisor Pat Coy, we were able to get Jim and Leslie to come to Kent State. We all worked hard to promote the event, flyering all over campus, and writing editorials in the Daily Kent Stater. What resulted was a phenomonal success. We attracted hundreds of students and faculty. Jim and Leslie told their real-life survivor story of a place where home is an unsanitary shack shared by "rats the size of footballs and cockroaches the size of [Jim's] hand". We watched with horror the slideshow of heartwrenching images. The expecting mother who lost her child because of toxic glue on the assembly line, the children's playground where giant mounds of carcinogenic shoe rubber were burned every other day, the sick child whose parents couldn't afford to take to the doctor, and so many more. We heard the fate of the woman who tried to organize a union and wound up beaten, raped, tortured, murdered, and thrown into the jungle, (minus her tounge, which was sent back to her friends). All this and much more were told by these eye-witnesses, and their powerful, rousing call to do our part to "Just Stop It" was embraced by the diverse audience, who gave Jim and Leslie a standing ovation.

After the show, some members of CHANGE went with Jim and Leslie to an after-party where we shared stories and ideas. We are very pleased with the turnout, and we would like to extend our heartfelt gratitude to everyone who helped make it possible, especially Jim Keady and Leslie Kretzu, who continue to prove that each and every one of us can change the world for the better. For more information about The Olympic Living Wage Project and what you can do to help, please visit www.nikewages.org.