Greetings from Delhi
Young boy making necklace – Is one like it available in a shop near you?
I’m in Lalpatti (romantically named the red light district) in Delhi, India. I first came here six years ago – it blew my mind. Lalpatti is a slum in old Delhi and children the age of 7, the same age as my son at the time, were making cheap accessories for the British high street – today, nothing has changed as you can see from these photos.
Child labour and sweat labour are symptoms of cheapness and the desperate need to earn a livelihood and put food on the table. Child labour is a third the cost of adult labour. I found 15 children working in a 10 foot by 20 foot room where they also work, eat and sleep. I used to think that the people who run the workshops, themselves between the ages of 8-16, were the problem – but they are at the end of a very long chain of people – that starts in the high streets of the west
Boy making trinket boxes and handicrafts in Delhi
Many say that the problem is the trading agents, the representatives of the buyers from the high street chains that offer low prices and the sub contracting competition – “We are helpless,” says Mr Alece who runs one of the workshops, “We’d lose orders if we didn’t have kids to do the work cheaply.” So the buyers are also part of the problem – and perhaps the customers who buy cheap accessories in ignorance?
I leave the slums with a heavy heart –some of the kids I met have been sold into this occupation, and send around £4 a month to the families they have left in Bihar or even as far away as Nepal. They work 12-16 hours a day.
Mrs Sunita with her savings book
In Fair Trade we work with adult producers who make fashion accessories, through working with the groups directly, we know who makes the product! The minimum wage in Delhi is 3300 Indian rupees a month. Fair Trade benefits producers with fair prices, health and educational support for their children and a savings programme that helps people like Ms. Sunita (pictured holding her savings book). When her husband was injured in a motorbike accident and was unable to work for a year she drew on the savings to keep the family going until he was well again.
‘Sports for All’ Campaign distributed games to kids from poor communities in the Delhi area
Through People Tree and Tara projects the ‘Sports For All’ campaign has helped not only the children of our producers but also the children of vulnerable communities like those whose slum homes were flattered by the government, by delivering games like badminton and karim for the girls, a board game and cricket and balls for the boys. What fun!