Today is World Day Against Child Labor.
When young Latha’s mother became sick, she found herself responsible for caring for her younger brothers and was forced to drop out of school. To help her family, she began working 12-plus hours a day as a laborer at a local matchstick factory. Watch her story and how her situation was able to be turned around.
“Children are being forced against their will to work. You are the ones who will need to free them. If you help free children like me, they’ll also start learning– just like I’ve started learning in school.”
–Latha
It is hard to feel like you can play a role in improving a child’s life like Latha’s, but every advocacy action you take causes a chain reaction that has the potential to improve the life of a child around the world.
You played a huge role in passing the Girls Count Act! This bill will help make sure every child is counted and receives a birth certificate. We do not know about Latha’s parents, but imagine they were born into poverty, and perhaps one or both of them were never registered at birth– because of cost, where they lived, or gender. Perhaps because of this, they were unable to attend school, which meant that they did not have the opportunity to have higher paying jobs. And maybe they are unable to own land, or access proper banking services. All of these different factors lend themselves to poverty and then when something unexpected happens– like an illness, they have to make unthinkable choices, such as having their daughter work off a debt.
Children should play and have small little chores! Let them explore and love life then they will be ready and mature to work.