Tanzanian Tanzanite Miner Allen Hicks

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Tanzanian Tanzanite MinerAllen Hicks

• I was working in the mine today (like every other
  day) in the 110 degree weather . I was in a dust
  filled 450 meter deep mine shaft. Our job is to
  haul away sand and rocks form the mine. It is a
  very hard job to do for a 13 year old Wana-Apollo
  small miner. It is very hot, dangerous, and
  tiring.

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• Our day starts very early in the morning and ends
  late at night. The dust in the mine makes it
  very hard to breathe. Other miners fill the bags
  with dirt and sand and hand them up to us, we
  (us) are hanging on the ladder with one arm
  passing the bags to one another until it gets to
  the top and gets dumped in a pile out side the
  mining area. We have very little opportunity.
  This work helps our families survive.
• We children bear the heaviest load of work.
  Every day I risk my life to live just like all
  the other kids in the mine. Also, like all the
  other kids in the mine, my family is very poor.
  Sometimes I work for no money, food, or water.
  Life is hard down here! It seems that there is
  no way out.
• A journalist took some pictures of me and the
  company house. She also got a picture of herself
  touring the mine.
• The attached pictures are actual photos from
  Tanzania taken Paul Matia while on assignment for
  Universal Leaf Tobacco.

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Tanzania
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References

• TANZANIA Gem Slaves Tanzanites child labor.
  IRIN November 19, 07
• Colored Stone. By Hamza Kondo, July 2005.
  Published by Lampert Tools USA, Inc.
• Paul Matia, Project Engineer, Universal Leaf
  Tobacco. Photographer.