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Kids' Corner: Wishing for Fun and Freedom
Enjoying a carefree summer? Riding bikes with friends, reading books in the shade, doing some yard work for extra money, maybe making a trip to the beach? We hope so, and that's the way we wish it were for all kids.
But for millions of children around the world, summer isn't about fun. It's a time when the hot sun makes their long, exhausting days that much harder. These are children who don't get a summer break from school. In fact most of them don't go to school at all. Instead, they work from morning until night in fields or factories to help feed their families, or to pay off their families' debts.
Around the world, nearly 250 million children 14 years old or younger - many of them younger than 10 - are laborers, according to the International Labor Organization. And, no, that doesn't mean doing chores around the house or babysitting. These are children whose lives are virtually nothing but work, with little rest, little to eat and no play.
About half of the child laborers live in Asia and Pacific island countries and nearly 50 million others live in Africa. Most child laborers, seven out of 10 of them, work in farming, hunting, fishing or forestry industries. Others have jobs in manufacturing plants, spending long hours on assembly lines, some are put to work in stores, restaurants or hotels and some are hired, or bought, as servants.
In June, the ILO sponsored the World Day Against Child Labor to help people understand what a terrible problem it is. It can be hard to imagine how tough these children's lives are, so we're going to tell you about some real kids who were or still are child laborers. You can read more about them at the excellent web site of Free the Children, a program started by a boy in Canada, and still run by kids, that helps children around the world. Go to www.freethechildren.com.
Here are some of the stories:
Jitti, 13, works 11 to 14 hours a day in a leather factory in Bangkok, Thailand, far from his northern village. He has two days off each month. His job is to glue pre-cut pieces of leather together. The glue fumes give him headaches, and he wishes he could stop. He is paid $45 a month, of which $16 goes to a middleman.
"I don't know what else to do," he says in his native Thai. Knowing how his parents depend on his earnings, he says, "I cannot disappoint them and tell them the truth that I am very unhappy."
Pattinathar, 15, spent six years working up to 16 hours a day at a cigarette factory. About 50,000 children in India do this type of work, sitting elbow-to-elbow inside small mud-hut workshops, rolling tobacco into cut leaves and closing the ends of slender cigarettes known as "beedi."
Pattinathar was only 6 years old when his days of playing tag, hide-and-seek and card games ended. His father was very sick and his family had to borrow money to pay their bills. The lender forced his father to sell his sons into bondage, meaning they were forced to work until the high-interest loan was paid off.
His wages were only $1.30 a week, even though he worked from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. six days a week. Sitting cross-legged for hours, his legs felt heavy, "like elephant legs" and his head, back, knees and fingers hurt. He was hungry and weak. On days when he was too tired to finish his work, the foreman beat him with a stick. Finally, aid workers found him chained in the hut and threatened to call the media unless he was freed.
Sonsingh, also of India, is an 11-year-old bonded laborer, working to pay off his family's debt.
"My mother, my brother and I have to work in the landord's house, and my father works on the landlord's farm," Sonsingh says. "I work more than 10 hours a day for less than two kilos of rice. It's hard, but I always do the work I am asked to do, including collecting cow-dung for fuel. I am not allowed to leave my master's house till the loan is repaid. My master beats me sometimes when I make mistakes."
Rosie is a 9-year-old sugar cane worker in Asia. "I started working on the sugar cane field when I was 7 years old. I stopped going to school because my family could not afford to spend the money. The money I earn is not enough to buy food. I am tired and hungry doing my work in the field. I wish I could have soup to go with the rice I eat because without soup it is hard to swallow," she says.
Easwaris, now 13, has scars from an explosion in a fireworks factory in India where she worked 12-hour days starting when she was just 7 years old. She had the dangerous job of loading sulfur, aluminum dust and coal into firecracker tubes.
When she was 9 years old, a blast from gunpowder-coated fuses knocked her unconscious and badly burned her arms, back and hips. Twelve other children, including her 8-year-old sister died. Even though it is against the law in India for children to work in fireworks factories and other dangerous industries, the law is rarely enforced.
Ashique is 11 and has worked in a brick kiln in Pakistan since he was 5 years old, along with his father and three brothers. His family is also trying to pay off a debt. They work every day but Sunday and are paid $1.40 per 1,000 bricks. They make up to 3,000 bricks a day.
"Our wage is cut by 50 percent for loan repayments," Ashique says. "We do not understand the loan interest which seems to be always increasing. I work very hard from 2 a.m. to 6 to 7 in the evening and gets only one-half hour break for a meal."
You can learn more about children's hardships around the world and how you can help at www.freethechildren.org. Another great kids' website about child labor is Fields of Hope, www.fieldsofhope.org.
But for millions of children around the world, summer isn't about fun. It's a time when the hot sun makes their long, exhausting days that much harder. These are children who don't get a summer break from school. In fact most of them don't go to school at all. Instead, they work from morning until night in fields or factories to help feed their families, or to pay off their families' debts.
Around the world, nearly 250 million children 14 years old or younger - many of them younger than 10 - are laborers, according to the International Labor Organization. And, no, that doesn't mean doing chores around the house or babysitting. These are children whose lives are virtually nothing but work, with little rest, little to eat and no play.
About half of the child laborers live in Asia and Pacific island countries and nearly 50 million others live in Africa. Most child laborers, seven out of 10 of them, work in farming, hunting, fishing or forestry industries. Others have jobs in manufacturing plants, spending long hours on assembly lines, some are put to work in stores, restaurants or hotels and some are hired, or bought, as servants.
In June, the ILO sponsored the World Day Against Child Labor to help people understand what a terrible problem it is. It can be hard to imagine how tough these children's lives are, so we're going to tell you about some real kids who were or still are child laborers. You can read more about them at the excellent web site of Free the Children, a program started by a boy in Canada, and still run by kids, that helps children around the world. Go to www.freethechildren.com.
Here are some of the stories:
Jitti, 13, works 11 to 14 hours a day in a leather factory in Bangkok, Thailand, far from his northern village. He has two days off each month. His job is to glue pre-cut pieces of leather together. The glue fumes give him headaches, and he wishes he could stop. He is paid $45 a month, of which $16 goes to a middleman.
"I don't know what else to do," he says in his native Thai. Knowing how his parents depend on his earnings, he says, "I cannot disappoint them and tell them the truth that I am very unhappy."
Pattinathar, 15, spent six years working up to 16 hours a day at a cigarette factory. About 50,000 children in India do this type of work, sitting elbow-to-elbow inside small mud-hut workshops, rolling tobacco into cut leaves and closing the ends of slender cigarettes known as "beedi."
Pattinathar was only 6 years old when his days of playing tag, hide-and-seek and card games ended. His father was very sick and his family had to borrow money to pay their bills. The lender forced his father to sell his sons into bondage, meaning they were forced to work until the high-interest loan was paid off.
His wages were only $1.30 a week, even though he worked from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. six days a week. Sitting cross-legged for hours, his legs felt heavy, "like elephant legs" and his head, back, knees and fingers hurt. He was hungry and weak. On days when he was too tired to finish his work, the foreman beat him with a stick. Finally, aid workers found him chained in the hut and threatened to call the media unless he was freed.
Sonsingh, also of India, is an 11-year-old bonded laborer, working to pay off his family's debt.
"My mother, my brother and I have to work in the landord's house, and my father works on the landlord's farm," Sonsingh says. "I work more than 10 hours a day for less than two kilos of rice. It's hard, but I always do the work I am asked to do, including collecting cow-dung for fuel. I am not allowed to leave my master's house till the loan is repaid. My master beats me sometimes when I make mistakes."
Rosie is a 9-year-old sugar cane worker in Asia. "I started working on the sugar cane field when I was 7 years old. I stopped going to school because my family could not afford to spend the money. The money I earn is not enough to buy food. I am tired and hungry doing my work in the field. I wish I could have soup to go with the rice I eat because without soup it is hard to swallow," she says.
Easwaris, now 13, has scars from an explosion in a fireworks factory in India where she worked 12-hour days starting when she was just 7 years old. She had the dangerous job of loading sulfur, aluminum dust and coal into firecracker tubes.
When she was 9 years old, a blast from gunpowder-coated fuses knocked her unconscious and badly burned her arms, back and hips. Twelve other children, including her 8-year-old sister died. Even though it is against the law in India for children to work in fireworks factories and other dangerous industries, the law is rarely enforced.
Ashique is 11 and has worked in a brick kiln in Pakistan since he was 5 years old, along with his father and three brothers. His family is also trying to pay off a debt. They work every day but Sunday and are paid $1.40 per 1,000 bricks. They make up to 3,000 bricks a day.
"Our wage is cut by 50 percent for loan repayments," Ashique says. "We do not understand the loan interest which seems to be always increasing. I work very hard from 2 a.m. to 6 to 7 in the evening and gets only one-half hour break for a meal."
You can learn more about children's hardships around the world and how you can help at www.freethechildren.org. Another great kids' website about child labor is Fields of Hope, www.fieldsofhope.org.