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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