Four Stories - World Vision Canada Church Engagement

Abolition 2013 – Four Stories
Yong – A Trafficking Story
Laos
In Yong’s village of about 400
families, survival usually means
finding work elsewhere. There are
few opportunities close to home to
earn an income that would support
even basic needs. Many parents
cannot afford to send their children
to school and the boys and girls
spend a lot of time in the village
unsupervised.
All Yong wanted was to help his
parents. Yong took a huge personal
risk and travelled to Thailand. He
first worked in an aluminum
company where he was paid 3,000
Yong feels fortunate to be alive back in his village in Laos
baht (about $90) per month. The
work was intense and backbreaking. Yong could not keep up. When he told the company that he
wanted to return to Laos, they informed he needed to earn his fare by working for it.
Yong and Hou, another worker, were taken by bus to Malaysia. They were forced to work in a plantation
spraying pesticides. There was no protective clothing. Yong and Hou developed skin allergies from the
chemicals. Worried about their health, they begged the owner to let them go home. He refused and
confiscated their passports.
Yong and his friend escaped and walked for three days without food. They had no other choice. The pair
survived on only the water that they brought with them. They were apprehended by the police and
eventually Yong was able to contact his parents and inform them of his situation. He returned home,
happy just to be alive.
Many young people from the villages become unwilling victims of trafficking. They don’t realize the risks
of being caught in an abusive situation from which they can’t escape.
World Vision’s Anti-Trafficking Program in Laos has intensified its campaign to promote awareness
about trafficking. Staff members engage with people who are vulnerable to trafficking, including
children, youth, minority groups and those living in villages close to trafficking hot spots. This work is
vital to prevent people from being exploited as Yong was, and to provide support for the survivors of
trafficking.
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Abolition 2013 – Four Stories
Two Stories from Latin America
Sonite Edmond, Haiti
Sonite Edmond, age 14, is now in her third year of
secondary education at Tamarin National School,
on the island of La Gonave, Haiti. But just a few
years ago, the possibility of studying was only a
distant dream.
Sonite worked as a “restavek,” or domestic
labourer, in a relative's home in Port-au-Prince.
Sonite’s family was in the situation that many
Haitians find themselves. Unable to afford school
fees or the cost of uniforms and books, they send
Children at the L'Ecole National de Tamarin, in Haiti, built
with the help of World Vision supporters
their children to the city to work. What seems like the only solution in a difficult situation soon becomes
an entrenched pattern. Children work long hours in domestic work and are treated as second-class
citizens. They miss out on schooling and have little hope of escaping their difficult lives.
World Vision's sponsorship program became Sonite’s bridge to hope. Now, Sonite and her brother
attend Tamarin School. “It's not fair that some kids get to go to school and others don't,” says Sonite.
“As long as I'm alive I'd like to keep going to school. I want to keep learning, because without this you're
nothing." For Sonite, there is no turning back.
Mayra and her boys, Ecuador
In a cocoa-producing area of rural Ecuador, Mayra was concerned that their family income would not be
enough to keep her children in school. “I always wanted my children to study because if you don’t study,
you are nobody,” says Mayra. But her husband’s seasonal work only brought in $50-$60 a week during
good times—and nothing at all for up to three months in winter.
Mayra and other women in her community looked for ways to
change their situation. Together, they joined a World Vision
project promoting fair-trade goods.
The 20 women learned how to make cocoa cakes, cocoa
powder, chocolates and candies. They learned business skills
and how to market their products. A few months later the
women opened their fair trade business, contributing part of
the set-up investment themselves. "It seemed impossible to
gather the money but we saved our earnings,” recalls Mayra.
World Vision contributed equipment and materials to support
the women, and helped get their products to markets in Quito,
the capital city. Two years after the business started up, Mayra
earns around $30-$40 a month. She uses the money to keep
her sons in school. “I’m so proud,” says Mayra, “because
nobody ever thought this could be possible.”
A community-run fair trade cocoa business helps
keep Mayra's sons in school
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Abolition 2013 – Four Stories
Alphonsine and Her Children
Democratic Republic of Congo
Every day, Alphonsine Ngolo, 37,
and five of her children go to the
copper mining quarry in
Kambove, [southern Congo] to
work. The area is baked in sun
and constantly dusty. They wear
no protective clothing.
Sometimes they even forego the
relative comfort of hand-medown
sandals to work more
efficiently barefoot.
Alphonsine and her kids dig up
and clean rocks to see if they can
Alphonsine (background) and children spend their days in the copper quarry
get a sellable amount of raw
copper. They have to work through a large quantity of the discarded soil and rock to find the greenish
copper pieces. Then they clean the raw copper for selling. On a good day they might pull together
enough copper ore to earn the equivalent of $3. That money mostly goes to food.
"My husband is sick on the bed two years now and nobody is assisting my family with food and soap.
[That is] why I decided to work in the mining here, children assisting me, as they don't have [anything] to
do at home," Alphonsine says.
The area is responsible for
producing thousands of metric
tonnes of copper a year, but has
no health centre or school.
Alphonsine and her family are
caught in the system. Their only
option is to work in the mine.
One of Alphonsine's daughters sifting for raw copper in the quarry
The World Vision Congo and
Canada offices are currently
working with local government
officials to ensure that
development in the area takes
into account the needs of
families in Alphonsine’s
community and others like it.
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Abolition 2013 – Four Stories
Jonaki’s Story
Bangladesh
Eleven-year-old Jonaki lives with her parents
and younger sister in northern Bangladesh. Her
father is a small teashop-keeper. Her mother
works at home. They did not earn enough to
meet the family’s needs and the family often
went to bed hungry. Her parents did not have
enough money for school and Jonaki, at only
nine years old, spent her days in a ‘Bidi’
(pronounced “beedi”) factory where she made
hand-made cigarettes from unrefined tobacco
leaves.
Jonaki and her family preparing a meal at home
Bidi making is dirty, punishing work in dust-filled factories. Workers face serious health risks, like severe
muscle strain and respiratory illnesses. They spend their days working quickly to roll tobacco flakes in
paper or a tobacco leaf, tie off the ends and then use a sharp knife to finish off the crude cigarettes.
They must roll their quota of 1000 bidis each day to take home less than one dollar at the end of a 12
hour shift. For Jonaki, the choice was to roll bidis or go hungry.
“Life was not easy for me. It was hard grinding all day. I have been mistreated and manhandled at times
by my employers. I had to work from dawn to dusk and never had the chance to go to school. I was
totally illiterate,” Jonaki says.
Jonaki joined the Non-formal Primary Education (NFPE) Program in 2010 under the Child Rescue Project.
She now regularly attends classes and is a good student. “Once I joined World Vision’s NFPE Program, I
never looked back,” Jonaki says. “This was a
once in a lifetime opportunity. I did not want
to lose it at any cost. I grabbed it with both
hands!”
The World Vision program is also making
deeper changes. “As I participate in various
awareness sessions on child rights and
protection issues and, as well, other factors
related to under-age marriage, trafficking,
abuse etc., I can now firmly justify that
equality is the key to protecting myself and
bringing a better life,” Jonaki says.
Jonaki has embraced education "with both hands!"
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