Problem location

1
Child Labour in Mithrio Bhatti, Pakistan
2
Location problems

• Mithrio Bhatti is a small village in the
  Tharparkar district of southern Pakistan.
• The district is mostly desert. However, the
  valleys between the sand ridges are moist enough
  to be cultivated.
• Mithrio Bhatti has a tropical desert climate
  hot in the day and cool at night. December,
  January and February are the coldest months. Most
  rainfall falls between July and September during
  the monsoon.
• In some years there is no rain at all and fresh
  water is always scarce.

• The main livelihoods are rain-fed agriculture,
  livestock rearing and carpet weaving.
• There is a very basic health unit, no electricity
  and water is limited to seven wells. There is one
  primary school and one secondary school.
• Literacy across the village is 20. In the
  younger generation, for girls it is below 15,
  for boys it is 50.

3
What do children do?

Boys are given responsibility for livestock aged
8-10. Boys also collect sticks and wood for
fuel or other uses, such as making homestead
boundaries.
It takes half an hour to walk to collect wood.
Mostly boys go. But sometimes young girls go
too. Geeta, 12
4
Boys also collect water from the well. This boy
is filling the water tube
Sometimes there is a shortage of water in the
wells. It happens when the sand goes into the
water. After taking it out, the well becomes full
again. Makesh, 13
5

• Girls help within the home, preparing food,
  fetching water on foot, helping embroider cloth.
  

This is my cousin Meena. She helps at home and
she also goes to School. Jodho
6
When children are 7 or 8 years old they learn the
work of weaving. Traders come from Hyderabad to
buy the carpets. Carpets cost 15000 rupees
(190)
Boys weave 10 12 hours a day. Weaving is
difficult and tiring work.
Makesh, 13
Here in Mithrio Bhatti children often work on
the loom. Children learn the work of weaving over
about one month, and their master beats them if
they make any mistake. They start work on carpet
looms after the age of eight. Geeta, 13
7
Why do children work in carpet weaving?

• Poverty
• Unpredictable and insufficient rainfall makes
  farming unprofitable and provides insufficient
  food for the family.
• Families are forced to take out loans and find
  alternative jobs.
• Culture and personal attitudes
• Limited law enforcement against child labour
• Parents belief that it is more beneficial to the
  family than school because of the small income it
  provides.
• Traditionally education is single sex. There are
  no female teachers in the village and girls have
  to go to the boys primary school if they are to
  attend school.
• My ambition in life is to become a teacher,
  so that I could convince my community to send
  their children to get an education.
  (Singhari, 14)

8
Unable to earn money on their own, parents are
forced to take out further loans, increasing the
amount they owe.
Bonded Labour
The parents of children take out a loan and are
then obliged to work for the money-lender in lieu
of the money. Children work to pay back the
money, freeing parents to earn an income.
Bonded workers have no power to negotiate the
repayment rate or the interest added to the
original sum. Sometimes the children can be
forced to live with the money-lender in their
workplace until the debt is completely repaid.
9

• Roshni is a ten-year-old girl living in a village
  in the Thar region of Pakistan. After facing
  financial trouble, her father had to ask for a
  loan from a contractor and put Roshni and her
  brother and sister to work at the contractors
  carpet loom.
• I eagerly wanted to get education and become a
  doctor. Unfortunately, it didnt happen. We work
  hard at the loom, from dawn to dusk. Initially,
  it was very difficult for me to sit at the loom
  so long, but now I am used to it. After working
  at the loom for eight months, my salary for a
  days work is just 40 rupees under 50p. I also
  do a bit of embroidery work at night-time. All my
  earnings go to cover the expenses of the nine
  members of my family. I always try my best to
  save some of my earnings so that I can help one
  of my younger brothers in his studies. But I
  havent succeeded so far in saving anything for
  my brother. However, I will try to do something
  for him if I can.

10
What is being done?

• Child rights protection project
• The project provides credit to the poor families
  on favourable terms, which made it easier to pay
  back the loans.
• Primary teachers are trained in new techniques
  that are more child-friendly. They are taught to
  listen to the ideas of students and treat them
  with more respect
• I dropped out of school when I was younger, but
  now I am studying again and am in the first grade
  at the Primary School. I like going to school,
  but do not like working on the loom. Singhari,
  14,
• TRDP
• After being liberated from the carpet looms, some
  children formed their own organisations.
• These have helped them build up confidence,
  express their views and develop the skills to
  speak on stage in front of an audience.
• In the groups children from different castes sit
  together and share the same cups, helping to
  overcome the caste system. Boys and girls also
  sit together.
• There is still a problem of many children missing
  out on school, especially girls.
• This is because there are few girls schools and
  parents are reluctant to send girls to boys
  schools. Also, there are not enough female
  teachers.
• My ambition in life is to become a teacher, as
  in our village only male teachers teach and
  parents do not send their daughters to school
  because of this. I wish to teach all the girls of
  my village (Geeta, 12).

11
Wider response.

• Create access to a fair market price for carpet
  weavers.
• Run cooperatives, provide micro-credit.
• Increase legislation against child labour
• Change perceptions towards education and child
  labour.