In 1994, students from Broad Meadows Middle School met Iqbal Masih, a 12-year-old Pakistani activist who had been sold into bonded labor at age 4 and escaped at age 10. They were moved to take action, and started a letter-writing campaign protesting child labor. When they heard of Iqbal's death later that year, they decided to build a school in his name in Pakistan, using the power of the Internet to raise the required money. By soliciting donations from classes in their school and from other middle schools, and by acquiring outside help from Massachusetts Senator Edward Kennedy and Amnesty International, they eventually raised $150,000--money that was then used to build a five-room school for former bonded laborers and to establish a fund to help Pakistani families buy children back from bonded labor. They also worked with the United States Agency for International Development to co-found a new international aid program, Operation Day's Work. Students in the 15 participating schools throughout the United States work one day a year to raise money for an agreed-upon project geared to help youth through education. Eleven years after Iqbal's visit a legacy continues to inspire new groups of student activists. Taysir Mahmoud, an ODW alumnus, says, "Iqbal is very much alive to us. What happened is so vivid. It's passed down from one group of students to another. It's kind of like...an oral tradition."