Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Human Trafficking Abroad, and at home?

Here is a translation of a true story that we heard at the youth event held this past weekend. The main topic of the weekend was human trafficking, its realities, causes, and possible solutions. Please take a moment to read this story, and if you wish, reflect on the questions that follow or use some of the links.

Basilia and her husband, Pedro, had a small business in Bolivia, near Tarija, that wasn't bringing in enough money. So when a friend told them about an opportunity to move to Buenos Aires to work in a clothing factory, they readily accepted and prepared for the trip with their 18-month old daughter. They were going to be paid by the garment, and they would even get food and housing. The gentleman that set up their contract sent them some money to travel to Yacuiba, where they were supposed to contact a taxi driver. The taxista took them to a mountainous area where a guide was waiting to take them through the wilderness to a town, which has a name that is currently escaping me, but supposedly it was in Argentina. The next day, the guide got them to Salta and bought their tickets for Buenos Aires. When the couple got to the bus terminal in the capital, their contact's sister was waiting for them. She took them straight to the factory where they were going to work. They were given a simple dinner and then told to work until one in the morning.



In the workroom, which was really a big shed, there were eighteen adult workers and thirteen children. In one corner and barely concealed by a partition, they set up a cot for the couple and their baby daughter. They later found out that the school-aged child laborers didn't go to school because the patrón didn't allow it. The work day started at 8 in the morning and lasted until 1 the next morning. The workers seldom left the factory, and despite the fact that the door wasn't locked (though they always had to let the manager when they were going to leave), the patrón never missed an opportunity to remind them about their illegal immigration status and the certain encarceration or deportation that awaited them if they were captured by the police. These warnings were corroborated by the two times that the police--whose stationhouse was on the same street--came into the factory and asked for the workers' documents. On both occasions the patrón made them hide behind some old machines in an unused part of the workroom.

There had been an agreement that they would be paid USD$.50 per garment. The first month Basilia made USD$85 and her husband about the same. The second month, the patrón stopped paying them: he gave them each USD$8 a week in credit, telling them that he was going to hold the rest of the money to pay the costs of travel and housing. And on top of the sewing they had to clean the whole building on the weekends with the money from their "credit". When Pedro asked for the missing money that he was owed, the patrón and his wife beat him and set the dog on him. That was when they decided to leave.

Some questions to consider:

Have you heard any stories similar to this one? Who was involved? Where did it take place?What happened at the end of the story?

What kinds of problems do you think Basilia and Pedro faced when they fled the factory? Where will they go? What will they do? What has changed as a result of their journey?

What would you do if you found yourself in work conditions like those at this garment factory? What would you do if you were Basilia and Pedro when they walked out?

Where is God in this story and in others like it?

Some links to follow:

US Dept of Labor Report on Argentinian Child Labor

A news article on Bolivian slave laborers in Argentina

News article from THE GUARDIAN about Argentina's slave trade

UN Report on Argentinian Human Trafficking

State Department report on Human Trafficking in the United States (large PDF)

Collection of articles on US Human Trafficking

An article from the AFL-CIO on contemporary US slavery

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow that is a really powerful story. Thank you for sharing it.

Anonymous said...

That was me, Lydia, by the way.

Anonymous said...

Wow. Definitely food for thought.