lost childhoods

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Page 1: Lost Childhoods

World

A young workerin Burkina Fasocarries a sack ofcocoa beans toa waiting truck.

oodMillions of African children are forced to dodangerous, backbreakingjobs. Why?

> ^ ^ acouba is not sure^ ^ how old he is—prob-^ ^ ably 13. He lives withk his family in Burkina

I Faso, a countryI in western Africa.

When Yacouba was a small child, hisuncle took him to nearby Cole d'lvoire(Ivory Coast). There, he worked sixdays a week picking crops. "1 workedwith the cocoa, the coffee, or othercrops, depending on the season,"Yacouba recalled. "It was difficult andheavy [work], and I hated it."

C6te d'lvoire and other West Afri-

can countries produce more than 70percent of the world's cocoa. Childworkers use machetes to slice openfootball-shaped pods to get the valu-able cocoa beans, which are later usedto make chocolate. It is dangerouswork because machetes often slip fromtired, sweaty hands. Children alsohave to carry huge bags full of cocoabeans. Like all cocoa workers, they areexposed to unhealthy pesticides.

Yacouba never got a penny for hiswork, although his employer did feedhim and buy him clothes. "The farmowner was mostly kind," Yacouba

said. "But if I didn't do my work prop-erly, he would hit me with a stick."

AWorldwide ProblemSuch treatment is common among

the world's 218 million child laborers.

Words to Know

• domestic:

Lsub-Sahara a term used todescribe countries on the conti-nent of Africa that are south of theSahara Desert.

1 0 JUNIOR SCHOLASTIC / JANUARY 22, 2007

Page 2: Lost Childhoods

astksi

About Our CoverIn this photo, Kamwala Bijicka, 13, carries

a sack full of earth and rocks at the MatempuMine near Mbuji Mayi, a city in the DemocraticRepublic of the Congo. Kamwala and hisbrothers cannot return to school until their feesare paid. The diamond mine where they workbelongs to people hoping to find their fortunesburied deep in the soft earth.

Instead of attending school, they toillong hours each day, often six or sevendays a week. At least three quarters ofthem work in dangerous, brutally hardjobs, such as harvesting cocoa beans.Millions of girls work as domestic ser-vants (see "Teen Diary,"p. 12).

According to Linda Golodner, co-chair of the Chiid Labor Coalition,poverty is the main force behind childlabor. Poor children must work to helpsupport their families. "The other rea-son is greed," Golodner told JS. "[Theemployers] who use children knowthat they don't have to pay children asmuch as they do adults. Children arevery compliant [willing to carry outorders without protest]."

In recent years, child labor hasdeclined worldwide. Some countrieswhere it once was a problem nowenjoy good economic times. Childrenare less likely to work when theirparents can get jobs. Also, many coun-tries now discourage child labor. For

"[The employers] whouse children know thatthey don't have to paychildren as much asthey do adults."

— Linda Golodner

instance, Brazil and Guatemala havebegun to pay some poor parents asmall fee to keep their kids in schooland out of work. The InternationalLabor Organization (ILO), a UnitedNations agency, estimates that thenumber of chiid laborers dropped by28 million between 2000 and 2004.

Africa's TroublesBut in sub-Saharan Africa, the

problem continues to grow. In 2004,that area had 49 million child labor-

ers, up 1.3 million from 2000. Povertyruns deep there. About 44 percent ofthe people living in sub-Saharan Africaearn less than $1 a day.

Africa has other troubles as well.Many countries—the DemocraticRepublic of the Congo and Sudan,for instance—are wracked by warsand unrest. Also, AIDS has hit Africaharder than any other continent. Thedisease has killed or disabled millionsof parents. Many children in thosefamilies have been forced to becomebreadwinners.

Importance of SchoolsGuy Thijs, head of the ILO's child-

labor program, said that two thingsmust happen to end child labor. First,countries must pass laws that preventkids younger than 15 from work-ing full-time. Those laws must beenforced. Most countries have laws toprotect kids from child labor. But manygovernments do not enforce them.

Second, and just as important.Continued on next page ^

JUNIOR SCHOLASTIC/JANUARY 22, 200? 1 1

Page 3: Lost Childhoods

World/

lid labor is causedby poverty."

—Guy Thijs

countries must provide schools for allof their young people. Poor kids whoattend school make 30 to 40 percentmore money as adults than those whoworked as child laborers. "Child laboris caused by poverty," Thijs told JS."But it is also one of the most impor-tant contributing factors to poverty."

Many children in Africa are deniedaccess to education. But some coun-tries are making progress. In Tanzania,for instance, a private group called theGood Hope Center, which works withthe ILO, finds child laborers and getsthem into school.

The center recently helped David,who is 13. He had been supportinghimself since he was 7. David minedtanzanite, a valuable bluish-purple gem-stone. It was difficult, dirty work thatpaid almost nothing. It was also danger-ous. He easily could have been killedby underground gases or a collapsing

mine. According to the ILO, about 1million kids face similar conditions inmines and rock quarries worldwide.

A combination of overwork,unclean water, and lack of food hadmade David sick. The Good Hope Cen-ter got him medical treatment—andgave him a chance to dream again.David now attends school. "My dreamis to become a pilot," he said. "[Myfellow students and I] see a brightfuture for our lives."

—Sean Price

VJooU PollZahra, 18, began as a domesticworker 10 years ago. She workedfor families in Casablanca,Morocco, in North Africa. Whenshe was IF, a human-rightsgroup helped her leave her job.

[My first employer] hit me alot. When I broke things or didn'tdo something, she would hit me.If I went out and didn't come backquickly, she would hit me. She hitme with her hand on my face orshe would pull my hair....

I slept in a small room, a stor-

Think About

1. What are some of the reasons child

labor is on the rise In sub-Saharan

Africa?

2. Do we have a responsibility to

know ifthe things we buy were

produced from child labor? Why

or why not? What would you do if

you knew?

age room. There was no lock onthe door, and the window lookedout onto a ventilation shaft

I woke up at 6:30 or 7 a.m. and[got to bed] at 11 p.m. I had noreal rest breaks I would wakeup, fix breakfast, wash dishes,clean the house. Every week Ihad to scrub the toilet. I would fixthe beds, clean the windows. Thehardest chore was scrubbing thesinks and floors and clothes. Theyhad a washing machine, but theymade me wash by hand.

12 JUNIOR SCHOLASTIC / JANUARY 22, 200?

Page 4: Lost Childhoods