DEALING WITH CHILD LABOUR

Wisdom Nugget:
"So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law..."

Source: Photopin

"Child labor and poverty are inevitably bound together and if you continue to use the labor of children as the treatment for the social disease of poverty, you will have both poverty and child labor to the end of time"  - Grace Abbott

In many African countries children are traditionally supposed to do some work for the family such as cooking, collecting firewood, helping  to look after younger brothers or sisters, and herding cattle.
That's not the abuse per say, the abuse according to The United Nations Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF)  occurs when a child is given more work than the child can do considering his/her age and if the work can cause harm to the child. Child labour happens when the child is treated unfairly so as to make money out of him/her. Child labour includes: Forcing an underaged child to work full time, paying less than an adult gets paid for the same work, putting too much responsibility on a child, forcing a child to work/live on the streets.
Child labour usually causes serious harm to children's physical, psychological, and mental health.

Twelve-year-old Alejandra is woken up at four in the morning by her father, Don José. She does not go to school, but goes to collect curiles, small molluscs in the mangrove swamps on the island of Espiritu Santo in Usulutan, El Salvador. Alejandra is not given breakfast as she's sent out too early so she can complete 14 hour work before nightfall so she leaves without breakfast. Instead the things she needs for effective work are handed over to her; these items include about a dozen cigars and at least four pills to keep her from falling asleep. A good part of the money that she earns goes to buy these things. In the mangrove swamp without shoes, Alejandra has to face bad weather, mosquito bites and cuts and scrapes from having to pull the curiles out from deep in the mud. The cigars help to repel the mosquitoes, but when she runs out of cigars Alejandra has to put up with the insects as she moves from branch to branch and from one area to another in search of shells. When she returns from work, her body is nearly always covered with bites. She earns very little. If she is lucky in one day Alejandra manages to collect two baskets of curiles (150 shells), worth little more than 12 colones, or $1.40. Alejandra, who has seven younger brothers and sisters, has no time to go to school or play with other children.

The narration above is a typical case of child labor, that the child willingly does it does not make it less of an abuse. Parents should be taking care of their children when they're underage. Not the other way round. Don't get me wrong, I am not advocating that children shouldn't do anything to help, but not by giving them more than they can (and/or should) bear. Not subjecting them to harsh weather conditions or dangerous situations. Do you know how many children go into a compound to sell wares to the occupants and never come out the same? Do you know how many children go missing everyday because they strayed into the wrong environment? Do you not know that a car can knock down your child while he/she is trying to hawk? What about the health detriments of putting these kids in these conditions. Be wise. Yes, let them help you but with a sense of putting their safety first! You will be judged if you do not do your best to care for these children.

It is the parent's responsibility to manage the home not the child's. And parents must carry out their duties with utmost respect. What respect do you command when you enslave your children? Instead you cast an unforgettable shadow on yourself. Herbert Ward puts it this way; "child abuse casts a shadow the length of a life time". Be wise your children are not donkeys, they're humans.