Jorge would like to be a lawyer but has no choice other than to work all day until his back hurts. Alex works in the mine because he has nothing to eat. He doesn’t tell his mother about his work because it makes her cry.
These thirteen year old boys sneak into mines that the adults find too dangerous or too unproductive for the back-breaking labour it entails. For the small amounts of tin left in the exhausted mountains of the Andes the boys have to work in silence in case the rocks fall on them. If there is an accident the managers at the mine don’t want to take responsibility for it.
Film-maker Rodrigo Vazquez found children too young to work mining for tin in Bolivia. Trade Union managers turn a blind eye to assist the children's families but dangers due to illness and accidents condemn these kids to short lives of back-breaking labour.
Source: Al Jazeera - Witness
Watch Part One here:
Watch Part two here:
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Thursday, April 17, 2008
Child Miners
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7 comments:
The conditions in the mines are terrible. I’ve seen it with my own eyes in 2004, when we visited the mines of Cerro Rico in Potosi during our trip to South-America.
And the saddest thing is: those miners don’t have a choice... working in the mines often is the only way of ‘making a living for their family’.... which of course is very contradictory, because the miners die young... :(
This is very saddening :(
This is heartbreaking.
Where can I find a copy of the video?
Hi beebs,
I am not sure it's available for distribution but I will send an inquiry to the source (Al Jazeera), and you can equally contact "The Witness" programme on Al Jazeera and inquire about the video.
@ Sweet Sensei - How can these little children be responsible for "making a living for their families??" --
Trynna make a "living" for others and they lose their "live-in" the process....
"It is hard being a miner but when u are only 13yrs old and axe is almost as big as you are, it's a desperately hard struggle for survival"
In the 1500s, Bolivia contained ‘the richest city on earth’ containing the largest silver mine.
Today Bolivia has large supplies of oil and gas and is the second biggest producer of natural gas in South America and yet it is the poorest country in South America.
37% of it's population are in extreme poverty (1997-2001).
Their government is to be blamed.
Sistah sistah,
I don't think your pointing a finger at the Bolivian government as justifiable. The situation is actually better now since Evo Morales took office in January2006.
You can't compare the situation NOW and back then in 2004. No way.
And this is because the government has been trying to put an end to it.
To address your oil and gas point, the new govt tries to make sure more of the oil and gas profits stay in Bolivia. They use this money to improve education, reduce poverty and help rural areas.
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