Stolen dreams
Stolen dreamsShankar is six years old. He is expected to handle the heavy instruments used to cut knots in each carpet. many many his thumbs and fingers were cut when the cutter slips. He cries for his motheybut but receives a beating instead. He is not taken to a hospital or given any medicine instead his amster fills the cut with match stick powder and then lights it, causing the skin and blood to bond. Again he cries for his mother and again he receives a beating.
I wish that I could tell you that Shankar's story is unique but unfortunately it is not.The United Nations Labour Agency estimates that there are 250 million children from ages 5 - 14 employed aroun the world. These children are making carpets, manufacturing bricks, working in glass and metal factories, in textile factories, in sugar cane fields, in the tobacco industry and they even work making toys. The list goes on and on. Two hundred and fifty million children who will never enjoy the simple pleasures of childhood in all the ways familiar to us and our children.
A work day can be 10 12 or 14 hrs long and work is done 6-7 days a week. Often these children do not see their parents for a month a at a time. Some of them never get to see their parents. Many of them have been bonded to the company because their family had to borrow money. Because of this they have become enslaved a the debt with the accumulating interest never seems to be paid.
The abuses these children have to endure are unbeleivable. They are beaten for any reason, in fact a beating is the norm rather than unusual. Some are branded the same way we brand our cows. They are branded so that they vcan be identified as belonging to that factory. They are often kept under lock and key when they do finish their work. This ensures that if they had the motivation or energy, they are not able to escape. They are the victims of sexual abuses and are sometimes force to become prostitutes. It is common practice to keep the children hungry so they will stay awake and work. Working conditions are dangerous which often results in accidents in which many die. Hopelessness and despair become the normal way of life. All dreams that may have existed are destroyed. What kind of future do they have? Just more of the same.
It is said that this problem will exist as long as poverty exists within these countries. As long as there is poverty the children will have to work to help support their families. But does this explain the low, low wages these children are paid. Does this explain the abuses they must suffer through. Would not a more...
To view the complete essay, you be registered.