Thursday, 15 December 2016

My Story: Elizabeth


My name is Elizabeth, I had to drop out of school in order to provide money for my family. I have been working in this shoe making factory for 5 months now. It's absolutely horrible. Because I am a girl, I get treated even worse than the boys who I work with. If I make just one little mistake, I am beaten quite brutally. Myself and other kids have suffered many types of injuries because of this. I work about 15 hours a day with small meal breaks for each meal. The food is absolutely revolting, most of us can barely get it down without gagging, but its all we get so its that, or nothing. I have a younger brother who is 5, he is still in school but I don't think he will be for much longer. Even with the extra money I make, my family is still struggling to survive. Once my brother turns 6 he will most likely start to work in the shoe factory with me. I've been finding it a lot harder to breath lately due to the bad air quality in the factory. Sometimes I wake up in the night and can't breath. My parents feel horrible because they don't have the money to take me to a doctor, I'm hoping that once I start to work more hours I can make more money. Then I can go to the doctor.

4 comments:

  1. Did your family support you? If yes, how so?

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  2. My family has been very sympathetic towards me. This was not the child hood they had planned for me. But with my father out of work this decision was a last resort. As much as I hate the factory, my family would be starving if it wasn't for my income.

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  3. Did the children grow up thinking they would only be a worker when they’re older?

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  4. No, when I was still in school I wanted to be a nurse when I grew up. now that I have been working in a factory for many years, I realize that without school that will never happen.

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