According to Anti-slavery International, "child labor" is children working full-time, at an early age, often in a dangerous workplace. This doesn't include teenagers working for limited hours on a farm or in a shop after school, but children of all ages who work excessive hours for no or low pay. They are often unable to leave their environment and are particularly vulnerable to abuse and violence. They are out of school so lack the education, opportunities and resources necessary to escape the poverty that pushed them into the workplace. In war-torn countries, children are often forced to serve in armed conflicts. Whole families are sometimes trapped in debt bondage or enslaved in the brick-making industry in Pakistan and the charcoal industry in Brazil, investigated in Kevin Bales' book Disposable People.
Read more at Suite101: World Day Against Child Labor: Drawing Attention to Millions of Exploited Working Children http://childrens-rights.suite101.com/article.cfm/world_day_against_child_labor#ixzz0eavG3eYiAm I asking too much of myself to give up non-fair trade coco ? Is it ridiculous? I have been hearing over the last 2 years about this coco bean child laborers... and I have been sad... but today I was reading and it hit me THESE are the kinds of children I want to FIGHT for with my life! That I want to HEAL! That I feel God CALLING me too!!! HOW can I not listen? How can I not care? How can I be so selfish as to continue with eating treats that children's "youth" and blood is in... How can I pretend any longer that my choices don't affect others lives!
I was thinking about clothes and when I move home.... I might just have to make my own! HA But I imagined myself years down the road working with children that have been rescued from slavery. And sitting with a child who was a textile slave and having him look and me and say " I think i made that".... Can u hear my heart BREAKING! I need to make the BEST decisions I possibly can... I know not all of them will be right... but I NEED to try harder!
1 comment:
i'm learning more and more about domestic sex trafficking in the U.S. and it is pretty staggering. yes to everything you said. i feel like this year i am finally making some changes i've been putting off, and continue to appreciate your convictions. preach it.
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