Not My Life covered many topics, so we chose to briefly recap a few & discuss some overarching themes/important takeaways:
1. Forced labor in Ghana
Fishing boys enslaved on Lake Volta in Ghana
Over 7,000 children – some estimates are even as high as 27,000 - are exploited daily on Lake Volta
These children, some as young as 4 years old, work 14-hour days, 7 days a week, and receive only 1 small meal a day
Eric Peasah, who appears in this segment, is the founder of Right to Be Free, a nonprofit organization which works to rescue children from the fishing trade on Lake Volta
Touch A Life Foundation is the first non-governmental organization in Ghana to provide long-term housing, education and care to trafficked children rescued from Lake Volta
LAST's thoughts: What is driving parents' decision to give up/sell their children?
social, political, economic shortcomings of the nation
lack of widely accessible resources to provide basic necessities to the children
2. Forced labor in Senegal
Talibé Street Beggars in Senegal
Widespread exploitation and abuse by Marabouts ("teachers") affects some 50,000 young boy Talibés across the country
Talibé children beg for their food and for money on the streets of Senegal for 6 to 10 hours each day
Money is given to the "teacher" (Marabout) who controls them
Children live in unconscionable conditions in "daaras," without access to running water, rudimentary hygiene or nurture, often without shelter and subject to severe abuse
Plan, an independent child development agency, is working as a partner in the USAID funded Basic Education Project. This project supports the introduction of a formal education cycle and better learning conditions into daaras in Louga and Dakar.
LAST's thoughts: How are cultural traditions vulnerable to corruption and how can poor families be particularly susceptible to handing their children over to traffickers?
traditions are, by definition, something that is done without question- so, it makes sense that people are able to use traditions to exploit others and have this behavior go relatively unnoticed/unpunished
poor families that lack access to resources to support their children will want the best possible life for their child- traffickers may deceive the parents about providing the children with better food/housing than the families could provide
3. Sexual exploitation in Cambodia
common form of trafficking in Cambodia: deceived into agreeing to work as domestic servants → coerced into sexual exploitation
US tourists travel to cambodia to abuse children & are most abusive to the children
problem is well-known but not much is done to address it
LAST's thoughts: Although this documentary focused largely on examples from other countries, can you think of any parallels to issues in the US?
child marriage: about 300,000 children with a few as young as 10 were married in the US between 2000 and 2018
this is similar to examples of sexual exploitation of children in the documentary
coercion by their own parents in some cases, especially traumatizing
Jeffrey Epstein: similar to segment on sex tourism, hired people then coerced them
recent weakening of child labor laws- will disproportionately impact children of lower socioeconomic class
4. Children in armed conflict
child soldier: under 18 y/o, part of armed group in any capacity (cooks, messengers, etc)
girls associated with these groups experience gender-based violence
2012-2017: recruitment of child soldiers increased, verified cases in 15 countries
LAST's thoughts: How do you think we can be more conscientious in our day-to-day behavior?
brands that use child labor (as of 2021): Hershey’s, H&M, Forever 21, Nike
raise awareness
voting (ex: California Prop 35)
volunteering (1736 crisis center!)
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