Year 5/6 runner-up: Rebecca Chung, Abbotsleigh

Rebecca Chung 

The Inconvenient Truth

Nine-year old Jiao opened her eyes and glanced at the dark sky. Hmmm. She thought. Probably 2 or 2:30 in the morning considering the silence of the birds. Her two irksome brothers were still snoring. After putting on her threadbare trousers and torn shirt, she walked hesitantly towards the menacing factory tower. She sighed heavily as she reluctantly entered the dim room that she had been coming to for the last 6 months, here she would spend an unimaginable 12 to 16 hours on sewing clothes in a cramped and musty room with 43 other girls. Forced by poverty to work, she receives a paltry wage. But it’s never enough. It wasn’t even worth an eighth of what she should REALLY be getting...

This is not a scene from a Hollywood movie or a blurb from Charles Dickens’ novel, Oliver Twist. Sadly this is the reality that many children confront everyday. Today around the world, 126 million children like Jiao are being employed in factories and according to UNICEF, there are an estimated 250 million children aged 5 to 14 in child labour worldwide. They work for many long hours, usually 16 hours a day, seven days a week, under dangerous and atrocious conditions. The average income for these children is four dollars a day as recently highlighted by the article in Business Insider in January 2012 titled INCONVENIENT TRUTH:

“Your iPhone was Built, in Part, By 13 Year-Olds Working 16 Hours A Day For 70 Cents An Hour”.

What matters to me is abolishing ‘child labour’. I believe the exploitation of children is an insult to humanity. Children are not disposable things! Making children work in factories, mines, mills or farms mean we risk their education, their health and even their lives. How cruel can we be to deprive children their right to have an education, have happiness and most importantly a proper childhood? Can we just brush this critical issue aside when millions are working under hazardous conditions, which present danger to their welfare, health and safety? Many children toil in quarries, squat in crippling positions to weave and sow and scavenge in rubbish tips. Too many are enslaved in child labour. Too many children suffer illnesses from their work. Too many are living in despair. I believe nothing justifies ‘child labour’.

I strongly feel the act of child labour is not only unjust, but also denies children their basic rights. Children have the right to live in a safe and happy environment. Why should any child feel abandoned and worthless? They are trapped in the clutches of social injustice for corporate greed. We cannot let this shameful and shocking act continue any longer. They are young. They are vulnerable. They are only children after all! Exposing children to such emotional and physical abuse should not and cannot be tolerated. All children are born with dignity and a right. A right to express themselves and have a say in things that affect them. So is it okay for us to continue to exploit children for a bigger profit?

As Jiao trudged home from another exhausting day from ‘work’ she collapsed onto the hard mud floor. She gently rubbed her swollen and stiff fingers. It was bruised with many open wounds. However, these wounds didn’t affect her because she was too tired to notice the pain. She wanted rest. Just for one minute. So she closed her eyes forever.

Jiao jumped up and down excitedly as she waited for her turn in hopscotch. Her turn was next and all her school friends were cheering her on. She had never felt so much happiness, so much freedom. It felt so  good to just ... play.