Akshatha.t
What is childlabour ?
Child labour is work performed by a child that Is likely to interfere with his or her right toEducation , or to be harmful to their healthOr physical , mental , spiritual, moral or Social development . All work done byChildren under the age of 15 and dangerousWork done by children under the age of 18 isIllegal.
There is a story on a child where he as suffered a lot in is childhood.
Alejandra can’t see his hands in the darkness of his shack made from palm bark and zinc on a hillside in the Dominican republic but he feels Them because of the pain from wounds on his Left thumb caused by the knife he uses to trimGarlic plants it is dawn and he has to hurry ifHe is to get a place in the landowners trunk.He jumps from the worn matterss that he shares with three other brothers .he doesn’t Have breakfast because there isn’t any. Nor Does he were working boots because he has non.
Alejandra manages to climb into the back of The truck before the others , who are adults And other children like him, without a childhood. In the cold and fog ,. The icy windCuts his unprotected face. Alejandra doesn’t Look beyond his hands and forgets his discomfort. His hands are his most valuable working assets. They pick potatoes , extract onions , dig up lettuce , behead beets and cut And gather garlic bulbs. He knows that he can bring home between 80 to120 pesos to contribute to the low family income and to buy A pairs of shoes.
He works in the fields every day from dawn to the middle of the afternoon. Alejandra does notGo to school for a short time a few years ago , when the family lived in the mountains , he took a long and steep road to go to classes. But ,we were so far away that he never learned anything ” says his mother , Hamisi , how could he learn if with the sweating of the trek he forgot what he has taught in school “. A mother of eight children , the 40 year old Mrs Hamisi is illiterate , like her husband .
In her but , only a thin sheet separates the cramped ” living room” from the beds .A wooden table and wobbly chairs make up the furnishings . Like other huts in El chorro , these is no electricity or running water . There is no nearby faucet or toilet . El chorro is on a hill above the Constance valley , which is the most Fertile in the country . The people living in these huts , about five minutes from town , are farm workers who have come here because there is plenty of agricultural works , but they remain poor because pay is so low.
As soon as they reach a certain height and age The children go with their parents to the plantations . They are exposed to the excessive chemicals , or herbicides and pesticides , that are applied to the fields . They are often bare foot and underfed they drink bottled refreshment to keep them going during the workday .The children are often sick .
Alejandra says he would like to study and continue to help his family his mother also Would like him to go to school . It’s more advantageous for me if they go to school , even if they don’t earn anything for they don’t make much with a days work anyone . There are helpers and community workers in Constance and El charro who are encouraging the children to go to school . They see a big difference in the children after just a short time at school .
The kids speak better , keep their notebooks tidy and are interested in school , not earning money . Alejandra will soon be one of those children.
