This is a big deal. It’s David Batstone of Sojourners, who writes the blog Right Reality. He’s talking about an impressive effort in Peru where children are working in a just manner. After you stop laughing at that last sentence, take a minute and read his article on child labor vs. child entrepeneurs and what folks are doing in Peru. I’m going to contribute money to Right Reality’s Children’s Aid Fund, which provides capital from which child entreprenuers can draw loans (think microenterprise fund where children/teens are the business owners). I didn’t make the point about why children have to/should work, did I? Read the article to answer that question for yourself. You’ll catch stuff like this:
Generación’s goal is to teach kids as young as 11 years old employable skills so that they can fend for themselves, and not be forced to resort to more destructive trades. Young girls who once served as child prostitutes, for example, now run a for-profit bakery.
fernando said,
July 7, 2006 at 6:10 pm
After three years in India, my opinions on this subject changed. The distinction is an important one, but not revolutionary. As a commentor on Batstone’s site points out, most NGO’s accept child labour for kids over 12, the only issue is conditions and hours per week.
There’s a big difference between a 7 year old chained to a capret loom and a 14 year old from an abusive background learning a craft.