Monday, February 25, 2013

The Dirty Secrets of Mining

Thirteen-year old Sanjay Chhetri has a dark, recurring fear: That one day, the gloomy mine that he toils in for 12 hours a day will cave in and bury him alive.

Sanjay is one of thousands of children who begin their work in the narrow mining tunnels of the Indian Northeast, starting in the middle of the night. They are, in a horrible and shocking way, perfect to squeeze into the tiny rat-holes that most adults are too big to enter...

Armed with pickaxes and helmets, they descend gingerly into the 50 m chasm, working for hours on end with growling stomachs and aching muscles. Twelve hours later, they leave with $4, less than 1/16 of the minimum wage of the US for twice the time. Think about it.

Child labor is now officially illegal in India, and special mining laws have been put in place in order to ban any children under 18 from working in the mines. However, due to the curse of tradition, districts have been specially exempt from these rules and regulations, thrusting thousands of kids into the terrifying dusk of the coal mines. In fact, it is now estimated that some 700,000 kids are employed in India's mining industry alone, a fact that is more than just a number itself.

Compensation is rarely paid to injured children, and kids are not allowed to talk or socialize with each other at all. They have no friends, and are socially, physically, and emotionally tortured.

Sanjay says, in a desperate plea for a new life - "I need to save money so I can return to school. I miss my friends and I still remember school. I still have my old dreams."

Monday, February 18, 2013

Profile: Iqbal Masih

When Iqbal Masih was four years old, he was sold into slavery. For 12 dollars.



Iqbal never knew a loving family or the joys of childhood. All he knew was the feeling of loss and pain, of toil and despair. And yet he was different from the millions of other kids who sat beside him working their bloody fingers on the loom. Because he stood up and decided to do something about it.

The conditions in which Iqbal worked were absolutely horrendous. The children had to squat on wooden benches and bend forward, tying millions of knots into carpets. If the children talked, ran away, or were physically/mentally sick, they were severely beaten. Other punishments included being hung upside down, locked in the dark for long periods of time, and being chained to their loom. And for all of this, working 14 hours daily, Iqbal earned about 20 cents a day.

When Iqbal was 10, he snuck away to a meeting of the Bonded Labor Liberation Front ( BLLF ), eventually convincing both the president and his cruel employer that he he had a right to be free. Then he went to a BLLF school in Lahore, and finished four years of school in just two! Increasingly, Iqbal's leadership skills became more apparent as he became involved in demonstrations and meetings, even pretending to be a factory worker so he could question the children there.

As Iqbal spoke to more people with more and more passion and conviction, people began to take notice. The 4-foot 60 pound 10 year old may have been physically dwarfed in size, but his presence was huge. As his popularity grew and he received Human Rights awards, the number of death threats grew, but Iqbal ignored them in his quest to free the children. Most believed that the leaders of the carpet industry ordered Iqbal to be murdered, disliking the influence Iqbal had. Whatever it was, the world truly lost a great hero in that moment. But the memory of his smiling face lives on.

Monday, February 11, 2013

It's Happened Before...


 You may be interested to know that child labor is not only a modern occurrence. During the Industrial Revolution and much of the early 20th century, child labor was huge in wealthy countries such as Britain and the United States. However, activists and politicians worked together to establish laws and regulations which eventually completely cleansed the first-world of child labor. Can we not do the same in today's world...?

While playing an important role in the Industrial Revolution, child labor was denounced and very often criticized - However, no steps were taken toward getting rid of the menace. Children worked an average of 70 hours a week with low wages, earning 10-20% of an adult's income. Their jobs ranged from errand boys and household servants to factory workers and builders - Some of these had serious effects on their health and state of mind, not to mention depriving them of education.

The 1819 Factory Acts were largely ineffective, and it was not before Lewis Hine's powerful photographs of child labor that it was first brought to national attention. In 1910, 2 million children under the age of 15 worked as laborers. Activists like Grace Abbott pushed for changes to child labor laws, even going so far as to propose a Child Labor Amendment, which is still "pending". With the 1936 Judiciary Act of Child Labor, the battle was finally won and justice had triumphed.

So, why not the same thing today? Well, the problems are many -First of all, child labor is more of a necessity in areas like India and sub-Saharan Africa, and deep-rooted in the tradition and business of these countries. Also, the US and Europe, as developed countries, had the resources and the organization to deal with this sort of problem, while today's poorer countries are often corrupt and disorderly. However, I and the thousands of others fighting against child labor refuse to be deterred - We will not lose without a long and hard fight.

Monday, February 4, 2013

"Food"ball for thought



The glitz and the glamor of Super Bowl LXVII gave us a much-needed break from our world of problems, economic, social, you name it. The massive hype did not go to waste, as the 49ers and Ravens battled through a controversial holding call, a power outage, an a last-second victory. Yet far from the stunning "show" that is the Super Bowl, who pays the price?

Think about the footballs. Now think about balls. Maybe the Super Bowl football itself was not a child labor product, but thousands of soccer balls are being stitched in India and Pakistan as we speak. Some of the 2010 World Cup balls were stitched by those very child laborers -- But somehow, that always gets passed by, doesn't it?

There's also the sad and shocking fact that the Super Bowl sparks the largest human sex trafficking event in the country. Thousands of women are trafficked, forced prostitutes, who lose their liberty and dignity in the same moment. 13 of those were saved in New Orleans, but so many more remain. This is a serious blow to our country, a shame as important as slavery itself. It must be stopped.

So when a huge sporting event rolls around, take a moment to think about what was behind it, about the part that we did not see but wish we had seen. For if we think about it, half the battle is won. And if we do something about it, score one!