Happy Ending

As this is my last post for the cultural encounter blog, I am still debating whether or not I should continue to post even after I am done with my Anthropology class. As for now, I would like to end my journey with a short blog post.

Voiceless children has made me a more aware person, it has made me more aware of the other countries in the world (especially countries in Africa) that also have many abusive and tragic cases of child labor, poverty and lack of education. I learned facts and developed new ideas I never thought I would. People ask how does child labor make sense to you? To tell you the truth, it really does not. I do not know of a single person who has the heart to allow a child under the age of twelve to work in the harmful environment of a factory. I do not think I will stop blogging because I believe if I stop blogging, it is the same as giving up on the children. Giving up on poverty. Giving up on education. Hopefully, this will not be my last post. I will forever continue to raise awareness and post updates: 

Until then, I would like you to visit a couple of sites: 

www.freethechildren.com

www.freerice.com

www.peta.org

It has been a wonderful journey, 

Thank you 

Time of your life

Listening to interviews, reading the news, and watching the latest documentaries, I have become alot more comfortable with the topic of Child Labor in India. I have learned that child labor in India is not forgotten, there are many NGOs that are working hard to help free children from factory owners and unfair treatment. I also learned that child labor is as serious as all other global problems such as poverty and global warming. Children need to be out of the factories, they need to lead a normal life because as they grow up they learn more about what the world is really like and that by itself will depress them. The world is not a safe place for children these days, which is why they should live a happy, educated life as children and later face the real world. My point is child labor is not a joke. It is what children do to give their families a proper life. What needs to be done is a proper form of education for all lower class families so that they can improve their living conditions. If you have the time to, please visit www.freethechildren.com and learn of ways to help end child labor. The story behind free the children is very inspiring and its very well written on their site. Please find the time to visit this website, it has changed my life, and hopefully will change your too. 

Because we can...

Whenever I have to attend a 9:30 class, I am usually never awake, yet I still take notes and pay attention. One morning a few weeks ago, I had anthropology as my first class of the day. Professor Torres started off with a video called "A Recycled LIfe", my first thought was "Oh great, another video telling us that we have to save our environment." Those videos are usually very helpful and eye-opening, but most of the time they blame humans for everything and accuse us of not working on making the planet any greener. "A Recycled Life" turned out to be my coffee for the day. It was a beautiful documentary which introduced us to Guajeros. Guajeros are individuals that live in the dumps of Guatemala. They live off the dump, it is where their life is. I have heard of poverty, malnutrition, and wars but never of people who have no better option than to live off the dumps. This documentary was very sad to watch, it sent an indirect message of how we should appreciate anything that comes our way because the fact of the matter is, Guajeros and many other unfortunate people will never be able to have whatever comes your way. The documentary showed that the Guajeros are happy with whatever they have, which are usually leftovers and broken items. It also shows how much they have to suffer just so that they can earn the money necessary for their well being. There was a scene in the documentary in which I will never forget, it showed an 11 year old child working in the dump because his parents abandoned him. When I saw his face and how hard he had to work to make a living for himself, it broke my heart. What the child was doing was wrong, what he was doing was dangerous, what the child was doing was also known as child labor. Why did I come to the decision of considering what the child was doing a form of labor? According to the International Labor Organization, child labor takes place in many different forms. Here are the following forms (as reported by the International Labor Organization):
a) all forms of slavery or practices similar to slavery, such as the sale and trafficking of children, debt bondage and serfdom and forced or compulsory labour, including forced or compulsory recruitment of children for use in armed conflict;
(b) the use, procuring or offering of a child for prostitution, for the production of pornography or for pornographic performances;
(c) the use, procuring or offering of a child for illicit activities, in particular for the production and trafficking of drugs as defined in the relevant international treaties;
(d) work which, by its nature or the circumstances in which it is carried out, is likely to harm the health, safety or morals of children.
The 11 year old child who was interviewed in the documentary, was considered to be a child workers because of article (d), which states that children cannot work in areas that harm their health in any way. The dump was considered to be a large mountain of nicotine. Nicotine that slowly harms the health of the young and innocent children, who have no other options to survive. Child labor comes in many forms and figures. What sometimes can be considered to be a regular 12 hour job for a child might be one of the worst forms of child labor. At first I did not relate the Guajero children to Child labor, but when I saw all the children who seemed to be four or five years old, it was an obvioius sign of child labor.
If you ever watch a documentary, or hear about a case in which a child is involved, please research and find ways to help improve the lives of the children in any way. Do it for the children, do it for future generations, and do it for a better world.
Thank you.
                                                 Works Cited

Worst forms of child labour - About child labour." 30 Apr. 2009
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Interview with Halima

Sick and Tired

Are you sick and tired of hearing stories about child labor? Are you sick and tired of feeling helpless and unable to make a difference in those children's lives? Well now you can do something about it. According to www.hubpages.com, there are many solutions to help end child labor. There are four solutions to ending child labor, first of all, increased family income will help better the children's futures. Secondly, educating children will help them find better, safer jobs rather than working in factories. Thirdly, social services should be available in parts of developing countries. Families suffering from natural disasters and poverty need someone to talk to. They need someone to help them sort out their problems and plan out their life. Lastly, family control of fertility. In other words, education. Education is key, it is what helps people live a better life without having to risk their lives to make a safe living. As an individual, you do not only have to follow by those rules, you can also create your own group and raise awareness. You can find many NGOs (Non-governmental Organizations) which help give the necessary financial aid to families in need. Please do not be silent about such a serious, heartbreaking issue. Do what you can to help improve the lives of the less fortunate. 

Drift Away

So what happens within the factories? How are children treated? Are they given enough food so that they are considered to be on a balanced diet? Do they work in a clean air environment? According to the US house of Representatives, "children work for twelve hours a day, with only small breaks for meals. The children are often fed very minimal staples. The vast majority of migrant child workers who cannot return home at night sleep alongside of their loom, further inviting sickness and poor health." Such a review of how the children are being treated is heartbreaking. We are talking about 7-14 year olds, or in other worlds, 1st to 6th graders. I understand that there is an economic situation happening worldwide, that does not mean that children should be treated like animals, or suffer an even worse form of treatment. Even though we cannot fix the problem entirely, we can try to "butter it up" in any possible way. What I mean by buttering the situation is making it seems less abusive and more child friendly. What factory owners can do is make sure that children are allowed breaks because they are not adults, they have to make sure that children eat a sufficient amount of different types of food and not just grains of rice. This is all crucial to the child's health. Children are working in polluted factory shops and are treated miserably. All I am asking is that factory owners have to be more considerate and treat the children as if they were one of their own. Is that too much to ask for? 

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Works Cited

"Child Labor in India." Pangaea Publishing and Design for Nature & Peoples of the Earth. 28 Apr. 2009 .

How to Save a Life

"Many of the worst forms of child labor are a problem in India, Nepal and Pakistan, where RugMark operates. These include child trafficking, commercial sexual exploitation, bonded child labor, child domestic work and the recruitment and use of children for armed conflict or drug trafficking. 

Demand for child labor is so high that desperate parents sell their children into bondage. According to UNICEF, 14% of children in India between the ages of 5 and 14 are engaged in child labor activities including carpet production.

"Many of the worst forms of child labor are a problem in India, Nepal and Pakistan, where RugMark operates. These include child trafficking, commercial sexual exploitation, bonded child labor, child domestic work and the recruitment and use of children for armed conflict or drug trafficking."

While some people mistakenly think it is better when all members of a family work, child labor actually makes poverty worse. Child workers come cheaply and sometimes at no cost, and drive down wages for adult laborers. Plus children who work forfeit an education that could have helped them achieve a higher standard of living as adults. Child laborers are vulnerable to exploitation and abuse, are subject to long hours of physically demanding and unrelenting work, and suffer from deprivation and poor health."

The previous information has all been taken from www.rugmark.org

When asked why child labor is an issue and why are you not focusing on war and other "important issues", the word exploitation comes to mind. When you have all kinds of problems taking place worldwide, and you still have factory owners exploiting and abusing young souls, it just does not sound right. When asked how different structures make child labor a problem, the answer is world problems such as global warming encourage the child abuse and exploitation. How is that possible? Environmental world problems such as global warming, and world conflicts such as war lead to poverty. Poverty is when a person does not have enough to eat which means they cannot work or live much longer because they are considered to be in a state of malnutrition. Poverty leads to the loss of jobs and the rise of child labor because adults cannot support their families or send their children to school, children have to work to support their families. The  process is completely reversed. Another factor that triggers child labor is the lack of education. When women are not educated about family and how to protect themselves, they may find themselves in a bit of a problem. With five children to take care of, the man of the house if living with his second or third wife, the woman if forced to send her children to the factories or even worse sell them to get the money she needs to save herself. When people think of child labor, they say "Oh at least they are doing something to help better their family's financial issues." What they do not know is what goes on within the factories...

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                                      Works Cited

"RugMark Foundation - About." Rugs - Handmade Rugs - Imported Rugs - Child Labor Free Rugs Certified by RugMark. 28 Apr. 2009 < http://rugmark.org/about.php?cid=1>.

Learning to fall

Child Labor worldwide always meant children suffering and not being able to live as innocently as possible. A few days ago I got a call from a close friend, we started talking about the news and what is going on around the world when I decided to tell her about my blog. This is how our conversation went: 

Me: So Im working on a blog to raise awareness about Child Labor Worldwide, but Im focusing more on India. 

Her: What exactly are you raising awareness about?

Me: How people are not paying attention to how the innocent children are being treated and how people should start joining organizations in which they can help fund the families of children who are in need. 

Her: When you say "people" who are you referring to? Do not you think people are already aware of what is going on within their community? Also how would you feel if an outsider tried to tell you about the problems that are happening in your country and from their country decided to tell you how you should live your life? I think you should put yourself in their shoes and then address this serious issue. 

-End of conversation-

The conversation I had with my close friend made me realize that as an outsider I cannot ask the people of India to live a certain way, I cannot ask them to work in a certain place and I cannot ask them to change their lives. According to the World Bank, which defines poverty as living on less than 1.25 a day, 456 million Indians are poverty-stricken. When I first addressed the issue of Child Labor I approached the issue with a closed-mind, I thought that India had no problems to take care of other than child labor. For days, I was mad at the Indian people for allowing children to work in factories. It all makes sense now. The lower class in India is suffering from a wide range of problems, from poverty to major environmental problems. India has had a large population increase over the past couple of years, this is not the only problem. With population increase, less resources are available for the public which means that more people are likely to suffer from poverty and malnutrition. When we compare the issue of child labor to poverty most people would chose to save a life than improve a life for the time being. Imagine having a child suffering from malnutrition and another child working for twelve hours a day, who would you chose to save and why? I would save the child who is about to die, even though both cases are life threatening and depressing to hear about. A child who is working to support his/her family can work for another couple of years until the economy can get better and is able to fund and support local and middle to lower class families. The child suffering from malnutrition is more likely to be saved because he/she is dying and it does not take years to die, it only takes a couple of seconds. 

With Arms Wide Open

A few days ago, my anthropology professor decided to show us a video about Guajero families and what they do." In the dump, the people who spend their lives sifting and sorting of rubbish call themselves "guajeros". The guajeros are discriminated against because of their association with the dump, and so they have made the dump their life. Whenever possible they avoid contact with the outside world, for example it is unusual to see guajeros in the streets of the city."(www.libreinfancia). The Guajero can consist of generations of family members who have chosen to work in a dump for a living. Working in a dump is not an easy job, especially when you are an 8 year old child trying to make enough money to support your family. 

The Guajero children are not forced to work in the dump but chose to because their entire family is engaged in the business of sorting through everyday garbage. This brings up the question of whether Guajero children working in the dump are looked at as victims of child labor. My answer is yes, Guajero children are "expected" and encouraged to work in the dump with their parents. Working in a dump can have many negative impacts that can scar the child's childhood. Pollution, disease and depression are three of the many factors that can contribute to the unhealthy effects a child can go through while working at the dump.  What makes people consider the fact that children working in a dump is not in any way linked to child labor is the fact that they can easily be referred to the UN funded children's day care to help give them the necessary education and health benefits they require. 

What made me instantly label Guajero children working in the dump as a form of child labor is that children under the age of fifteen have to suffer to live in a safe environment. Children under the age of fifteen should not have to do anything other than discover the world and enjoy the many benefits of being an innocent child. Comparing the Guajero Children to the Children in the developing parts of India who work on farms and in textile industries. What is the difference? Because the United Nations has interfered with the Guajero children's lifestyle, they are now more likely to live a better life and find jobs off the dump, in the city. Children working in textile industries and factories in India are in the thousands, according to the Human Rights Watch*, even if the many non-governmental organiztaions interfere they will not be able to solve the problem. What the problem in India is is that we need to raise awareness of the issue of child labor. We need to raise awareness of the fact that thousands of children and going to bed with an empty stomach. We need to raise awareness because if we do not thousands of innocent children will lead miserable lives while others take their most basic necessities for granted. Lets spread awareness for the innocent souls that have given up their childhood to save their families. Lets spread change one step at a time. 

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Works Cited

Unknown, "What is a Guajero?." Libre Infancia. 18 Apr 2009 

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Scholten, Werner. "Child Labor in India." 06-Aug-2005. Indienhilfe. 18 Apr 2009  herrsching.de/pdf/Child%20Labour%20Scholten.pdf>.

Lets Talk it Over.

Questions and Answers: (My own Interview-Please feel free to answer those questions in the responses area)

1. Have you ever heard of Child Labor anywhere around the world? (Other than India)

I have heard of the issue of Child Labor in many of the developing countries, such as China. Child Labor is also widespread in developing nations such as Africa. 

2. What do you think of the Issue?

I personally think it is a forgotten issue. Yes, people may want to focus on "more" important issues like nuclear weapons, the Middle East and the economic crisis but children are still the innocence we all fail to pay enough attention to. What I am trying to explain is that no matter what problems are going on in the world today, children should not be out being tortured and working to live. They should all be safe and protected because they deserve the right to live as freely as any other child out there. 

3. I would like to ask you to put yourself in a parent of a child worker's shoes, would you let your children go to work for 12 hours a day? You have a very low income, and you are too sick to support your family by yourself. 

Instead of letting my children suffer, I would seek help. Even if it is the hardest thing I can do, I will try to find my children a better home to live in until I get better and I am able to support them .I would not have children if I did not have the money to support them because I know where children who come from families with very low incomes end up. 

*End of Interview*

In the end, I believe that our role as humans is to educate others. We should educate people and women in developing countries about the negative aspects of Child Labor. We should educate our family members and friends about the different cases of Child Labor issues and hope that they will join us in this fight for Human Rights and Freedom. 

Lets Clear it Out.

So you are probably wondering why the blog posts are in three different colors. Well, since my topic is about Child Labor in India, I am choosing to color the posts just like the flag (as shown to the right).

The titles of the blog posts, on the other hand, are titles of different motivational songs that somehow relate to the blog post topic. Looking forward to discussing different matters with you!

Waiting on the World to Change.

When I asked a family member what they would do if their children were working in a factory? They said they would rather work than have their children risk their lives and work. Being treated with such violence and discrimination as a child can harm your personality and will stay with you for the rest of your life. Children who have been working since they were about six do not lead happy lives. They will never forget the experience, which shaped their life and changed it to the worse. 

A question I would like to answer is: "In the society we live in today, how would some people react to Child Labor if they saw someone under the age of ten working?"

As mentioned before, a family member said they would rather work than have their children work. Many people reacted to this question by saying that it is better to have adults work in factories than have young inexperienced, innocent children work as slaves. When adults work in factories, it is more accepted because they are not considered slaves but are workers who are respected and looked at as citizens of a certain community. When young children work, they are looked at as slaves who do not mean as much as adults do. Children who have no future because they work instead of go to school. Children who are uneducated and will always be failures in life. The most heartbreaking part is that the children working will only get enough money to support their families and not enough to pay for an education. Non-profit organizations will never be able to free all the children working and being exploited. The organizations will definitely make a difference, but they need us, the people, to help influence the rest of the world. 

Someday Well Know.

Wars, Suicides, Genocide. All of these problems are disturbing, and unfortunately we hear about them in the news daily. Those are all very important issues to discuss but I believe that in order to spread change, we must tackle the little issues first and then move on to the bigger issues. Why did I chose to spread awareness and talk about Child Labor and not any other issue? The reason is because I had a wonderful childhood and I am very thankful. To hear about children who have to work instead of enjoy and live a worry-less life is heartbreaking. Children under the age of fifteen should not work, if they do work its for experience and not in order to support their families and themselves. When this happens, this means that something is terribly wrong. My main goal here is to understand why child labor is still happening to young children in developing countries? Where are the adults? I believe that even if it is not easy, adults should work and have the children stay at home with the relative. Working in such dangerous conditions such as mines and trying to work huge factory machines is dangerous to the child's health. No child should experience such conditions and situations as a child. 

A few hours ago, I attended a lecture by an author called Firoozeh Dumas and as one of her jokes she says, "The friends I had as a child said that the smell of nutmeg and vanilla, but because I was from an oil producing area in Iran, the smell of oil reminded me of my childhood." (Dumas, Firoozeh) What will the children who are working in factories say about their childhood? Will they talk about how the smoke permanently damaged their lungs for the rest of their lives? Or how the scars they have are not from falls or from playing a sport but from being tortured for not working at a fast pace? What do you think? 

 I believe that this is one issue I will never understand. 

Please click here to learn more about Child Labor in India. 

The Heart of the Matter.

In the hot sun of Kuwait,  a couple of friends and I stood, handing out flyers. The flyers in question included facts and ways in which you can help end child labor and poverty. To my surprise we were greeted with quite a few negative reactions. One man said, “you are only children, what are you going to accomplish?” , “Help the needy in your own country first before helping others in different parts of the world”, and “Others will help them”. That day was one of the disheartening experiences of my life. It was a couple of years ago and I remember going home to my mother and explaining to her that I should give up. She then said to me that whatever mission or organization you commit yourself to, there will always be negative responses to it, you should face them and believe in yourself. That inspired me to go back to the same booth the next day and pass out the same flyers with the same information on them. When one of the people who tried to criticize me passed by again, I looked at him and said, “I am going to help these people, and I am not going anywhere.” The man smiled at me and to my surprise said “Well done”. Not giving up on a cause as serious as child labor in India is important. 

People these days chose to make up excuses and procrastinate a lot when it comes to commitment. I, myself, am unfortunately a procrastinator. I recently started a club called Save Me which helps improve the lives of humans and animals worldwide. I made sweaters, an email account, and applications and contributed all that I have for this club. Then, it hit me: What about the Red Cross? The United Nations? Free the Children? Are they not all very famous organizations that also improve the lives of Humans and Animals worldwide? What is so special about my club? I was then convinced and inspired by www.freethechildren.com that event the smallest change makes a big difference. Even if I raise 5 dollars, that 5 dollars can help pay a week’s meal plan for two children. Even if I raised awareness by saying that there are still children out there who sleep with scarred hands  and bloody cuts without getting any necessary treatment. It is an unfortunate reality, but one that we cannot ignore. 

Imagine...

Sometimes in life we take things for granted, not understanding how fortunate we are. We often do not appreciate the little things that make a big difference. As a child, I remember getting very upset when my parents did not get me what I asked for. I am now very thankful for their kindness and patience. I am also very grateful for the numerous tasty meals we shared together every day. What I do not understand is how can someone enjoy such advantages while others cannot even afford a sack of rice in order to stay alive. 

When I first hear the word Child Labor, I think of hunger, pain and inequality. Hunger is for the number of meals the children missed. Pain is for the number of times the children hurt themselves trying to perfect carpets, fix soccer balls, and operate machines. Inequality refers to how girls are treated differently than boys are. Boys are given more advantages, better working areas and usually easily find jobs. Girls, on the other hand, are exploited and sometimes abused. Both boys and girls are abused, but girls receive harsher treatments than boys do. It is unfortunate that sexism is introduced to the children at such a young age. 

When I hear someone talk about India. Three words come to mind, economy, poverty, and developing. India is known to be an economically powerful country that is rising and will soon be competing with China. A friend of mine, Nora, whose mother is Indian and speaks fluent Malayalam has explained what is going on in India. "In some parts, you see people laughing and having a wonderful time. In other parts, you see people who are so hungry they are not able to walk. It is an unfortunate issue that we have to pay attention to, we have to help ourselves first before we can be economically advanced." The word developing comes to mind because India is developing into a very powerful nation. 

A question to think about:

Are there less fortunate people in this world because humans are selfish? What do you think is another reason for Poverty, other than the fact that the world's resources are not distributed evenly? 

Dreaming with a Broken Heart.

Joe Opatowski (who worked with Free The Children) delivered a great song 2 days before he died in an automobile accident. This song is about transforming your ideas from Me to We, this idea was also created by Craig Kielburger. Click here to watch the video. 

Hello World...This is Me.

Gandhi once said "Be the change you wish to see in this world". You have to believe in yourself in order to spread change and make the world a better place. If you believe in your self, you can spread change. Little changes can make a big difference.  My name is Abby, I am a freshmen at at a small college. My main goal in life is to spread change and motivate people so that we can all work together to promote positive change. I strongly belive in common unity, and that citizens are able to accomplish goals peacefully. This blog will hopefully strike you as an inspirationa piece of work. After every post, I will attempt to post a question or two which we can hopefully talk about. These questions can vary from current events to historical figures.  I am looking forward to reading you feedback, suggestions, and comments. 

Peace, 

Abby

More than Words

Growing up in Kuwait, a country that has never had issues concerning child labor, I did not really pay attention to how serious child labor was. I did not pay attention to how common it was throughout the world, especially in developing countries. Having one of your closest friends explain to you that they know children who are about four to eight years old who work in factories is not an easy encounter, especially when you have never heard of such a problem.  The first time I heard of Child Labor, it was heart breaking and I wondered how children are able to work such arduous jobs just so that they can support their families. Free the Children is an organization which was started by Craig Kielburger to help end child labor. Craig was only twelve when he read an article in the newspaper about a twelve year old boy who was murdered after working at a carpet factory for ten years in order to help pay his family’s debts. Craig saw what was happening half way across the world and decided that it was not okay to ignore such an act of violence towards young innocent children. Craig then decided to start an organization called Free the Children which helps free children around the world from harsh working conditions. Why is the child’s family allowing the young boy or girl to work in order to pay for their debts? Are there other alternatives? Voiceless Children is a blog which will tackle those important questions.Voiceless Children is a blog that will include stories and will hopefully start discussions about Child Labor focusing in on India. Although Child Labor is a widespread issue, it is better to focus on one country and then consider and discuss if child labor is still present in most developing countries such as China and Indonesia.