Lost childhoods: millions of African children are forced to do dangerous, backbreaking jobs. Why?

Yacouba is not sure how old he is--probably 13. He lives with his family in Burkina Faso, a country in western Africa. When Yacouba was a small child, his uncle took him to nearby Cote d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast). There, he worked six days a week picking crops. "I worked with the cocoa, the coffee, or other crops, depending on the season," Yacouba recalled. "It was difficult and heavy [work], and I hated it."

Cote d'Ivoire and other West African countries produce more than 70 percent of the world's cocoa. Child workers use machetes to slice open football-shaped pods to get the valuable cocoa beans, which are later used to make chocolate. It is dangerous work because machetes often slip from tired, sweaty hands. Children also have to carry huge bags full of cocoa beans. Like all cocoa workers, they are exposed to unhealthy pesticides.

Yacouba never got a penny for his work, although his employer did feed him and buy him clothes. "The farm owner was mostly kind," Yacouba said. "But if I didn't do my work properly, he would hit me with a stick."

A Worldwide Problem

Such treatment is common among the world's 218 million child laborers. Instead of attending school, they toil long hours each day, often six or seven days a week. At least three quarters of them work in dangerous, brutally hard jobs, such as harvesting cocoa beans. Millions of girls work as domestic servants (see "Teen Diary," p. 12).

According to Linda Golodner, co-chair of the Child Labor Coalition, poverty is the main force behind child labor. Poor children must work to help support their families. "The other reason is greed," Golodner told JS. "[The employers] who use children know that they don't have to pay children as much as they do adults. Children are very compliant [willing to carry out orders without protest]."

In recent years, child labor has declined worldwide. Some countries where it once was a problem now enjoy good economic times. Children are less likely to work when their parents can get jobs. Also, many countries now discourage child labor. For instance, Brazil and Guatemala have begun to pay some poor parents a small fee to keep their kids in school and out of work. The International Labor Organization (ILO), a United Nations agency, estimates that the number of child laborers dropped by 28 million between 2000 and 2004.

Africa's Troubles

But in sub-Saharan Africa, the problem continues to grow. In 2004, that area had 49 million child laborers, up 1.3 million from 2000. Poverty runs deep there. About 44 percent of the people living in sub-Saharan Africa earn less than $1 a day.

Africa has other troubles as well. Many countries--the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Sudan, for instance--are wracked by wars and unrest. Also, AIDS has hit Africa harder than any other continent. The disease has killed or disabled millions of parents. Many children in those families have been forced to become breadwinners.

Importance of Schools

Guy Thijs, head of the ILO's child-labor program, said that two things must happen to end child labor. First, countries must pass laws that prevent kids younger than 15 from working full-time. Those laws must be enforced. Most countries have laws to protect kids from child labor. But many governments do not enforce them.

Second, and just as important, countries must provide schools for all of their young people. Poor kids who attend school make 30 to 40 percent more money as adults than those who worked as child laborers. "Child labor is caused by poverty," Thijs told JS. "But it is also one of the most important contributing factors to poverty."

Many children in Africa are denied access to education. But some countries are making progress. In Tanzania, for instance, a private group called the Good Hope Center, which works with the ILO, finds child laborers and gets them into school.

The center recently helped David, who is 13. He had been supporting himself since he was 7. David mined tanzanite, a valuable bluish-purple gemstone. It was difficult, dirty work that paid almost nothing. It was also dangerous. He easily could have been killed by underground gases or a collapsing mine. According to the ILO, about 1 million kids face similar conditions in mines and rock quarries worldwide.

A combination of overwork, unclean water, and lack of food had made David sick. The Good Hope Center got him medical treatment--and gave him a chance to dream again. David now attends school. "My dream is to become a pilot," he said. "[My fellow students and I] see a bright future for our lives."

Words to Know

* domestic: household.

* sub-Saharan: a term used to describe countries on the continent of African that are south of the Sahara Desert.

About Our Cover

In this photo, Kamwala Bijicka, 13, carries a sack full of earth and rocks at the Matempu Mine near Mbuji Mayi, a city in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Kamwala and his brothers cannot return to school until their lees are paid. The diamond mine where they work belongs to people hoping to find their fortunes buried deep in the soft earth.

Think About It

1. What are some of the reasons child labor is on the rise in sub-Saharan Africa?

2. Do we have a responsibility to know if the things we buy were produced from child labor? Why or why not? What would you do if you knew?

RELATED ARTICLE: Teen diary: a report from MOrocco.

Zahra, 18, began as a domestic worker 10 years ago. She worked for families in Casablanca, Morocco, in North Africa. When she was 17, a human-rights group helped her leave her job.

[My first employer] hit me a lot. When I broke things or didn't do something, she would hit me. If I went out and didn't come back quickly, she would hit me. She bit me with her hand on my face or she would pull my hair....

I slept in a small room, a storage room. There was no lock on the door, and the window looked out onto a ventilation shaft....

I woke up at 6:30 of 7 a.m. and [got to bed] at 11 p.m. I had no real rest breaks.... I would wake up, fix breakfast, wash dishes, clean the house. Every week I had to scrub the toilet. I would fix the beds, clean the windows. The hardest chore was scrubbing the sinks and floors and clothes. They had a washing machine, but they made me wash by hand.

* Objectives

Students should be able to:

* understand that poverty forces many children around the world to perform hard labor in dangerous conditions.

* understand how/why education can help change child laborers' lives for the better.

* Background

Of the world's 218 million child laborers (most younger than 15), 49 million live in sub-Saharan Africa. This article describes the harsh conditions under which these children work and introduces readers to three of them--one of whom is benefiting from humanitarian efforts.

* Critical Thinking

MAKING COMPARISONS: What is the difference between child labor in Africa and kids' afterschool jobs in the U.S.? (U.S. kids are paid wages; have choices over where, how, and whether or not to work; and are protected by law against unsafe and unhealthy conditions.)

FORMING SUPPORTED OPINIONS: If you were made director of a million-dollar fund to help child laborers, how would you spend the money? Give reasons to support your answer. (Answers will vary. Encourage student to think beyond the immediate present, and consider ways to keep the fund going after the initial money is spent.)

* Activity

KIDS HELPING KIDS: If students want to help, they can join an existing organization of students working to end child labor, such as Free the Children (freethechildren.com), founded by a 12-year-old; or they can create a fund-raising project of their own.

STANDARD

SOCIAL STUDIES, GRADES 5-8

* Production, distribution, and consumption: In many places in the world, children are forced to serve as cheap labor in dangerous and unhealthy conditions.

RESOURCES

PRINT

* Kuklin, Susan, Iqbal Masih and the Crusaders Against Child Slavery (Henry Holt & Co., 1998). Grades 6-12.

* Parker, Bavid L.,Stolen Dreams (Lerner Publishing Group, 199?). Grades 6-12.

WEB SITES

* Child Labor Web movie www.ilo.org/public/english/bureau/inf/wdacl

* Children's Peace Prize childrenspeaceprize.org/en

* Use a word from this list to correctly complete each sentence.

AIDS, E. coli, every country, a few countries, kids are better educated, only in the U.S., most countries, their parents are poor, their parents have jobs, staged the same, using machetes, went down, went up, working in mines

11. Between the gears 2000 and 2004, the estimated number of child laborers worldwide--.

12. Between the years 2000 and 2004, the estimated number of child laborers in sub-Saharan Africa--.

13. Millions of parents in sub-Saharan Africa have been killed or disabled by--.

14. Laws limiting child labor exist in--.

15. Children are more likely to be forced into labor when--.

11. went down

12. went up

13. AIDS

14. most countries

15. parents are poor

Lost childhoods

Dear Teacher,

Around the world, an estimated 218 million kids are forced by extreme poverty, and sometimes adult greed, to endure hard, heavy, and often dangerous labor.

Our cover story (pp. 10-12) takes readers to sub-Saharan Africa, the only place where the number of child laborers continues to rise. Your students will find out what child labor is, as well as what humanitarian aid can do to help abolish it.

The topic of child labor touches most children's hearts--and often spurs them into action. After reading about child laborers harvesting cocoa beans, they may want to write letters to chocolate manufacturers to ask what they are doing about child labor.

Suzanne McCabe, Editor

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