Some worshipers at St. Paul's Catholic Church were caught red handed on Sunday.
A group of young men called Child Soldier Cycle was in town painting people's hands red and collecting their prints in an attempt to raise awareness regarding the use of child soldiers across the globe.
The group is the brainchild of 19-year-old Philip Schleihauf of Ottawa. He started the cross Canada trek last year on his unicycle, traveling from B.C. to Ottawa.
The idea struck him as a way to make a difference in the world, said Schleihuaf.
"I took a year off after high school. Originally I thought of going over seas but that didn't end up happening so I was trying to think of some way I could make a positive change within Canada. One issue that had really struck me while I was in high school was child soldiering," he said.
But once he had completed last year's journey he started getting guff from friends.
Jamie MacDonald is a long time friend of Schleihauf and he talked him into going the rest of the way.
"I guess it was sort of teasing thing. I told him 'you didn't go all the way across the country,' and his campaign last year was called unicycle across Canada. So I said he was lying," he laughed.
Finally Schleihauf agreed to go the rest of the way but only if MacDonald joined him. They ended up setting out with a group of five.
Child Soldier Cycle is completely funded out of pocket by the five guys making the trek. They stay with friends or friendly organizations as they travel and generally try to keep their costs low.
Their goal is to increase awareness of child soldiering, mostly in Africa, and parts of Asia and South America. They hope their efforts will increase media coverage of child soldier issues.
They collect two hand prints from every person they meet, one is sent to local media and another is saved and will be sent to national media when they finish their journey.
"It really shocks me how big and global of an issue this is and how many active conflicts are going on," said Schleihauf. "(Also shocking is) how much news there is to be reported and yet we never here about it."
The boys and their support van left Summerside yesterday for Charlottetown, they will be collecting handprints on the waterfront there for part of the day before heading to the Wood Island Ferry.
