Child tobacco pickers being poisoned
A new Plan report has revealed how child tobacco pickers in Malawi are being exposed to high levels of nicotine poisoning - the equivalent of smoking 50 cigarettes per day.
Attitudes towards child labour are changing
By Plan CEO Nigel Chapman
- Some two hours from Lilongwe, Kasungu district is the tobacco growing heartland area of Malawi, with over 20,000 tenant farmers labouring to produce a crop which accounts for 70% of the country’s exports. It is also the epicentre of the battle to eradicate child labour - an issue made much more visible by Plan Malawi’s report some two years ago which made global news, and ruffled some feathers at the very top of the government here.
And from my brief visit it looks as if that report has done its job. Attitudes towards child labour are changing for the better at all levels of society. There is now a National Action Plan to eradicate child labour spearheaded by the Minister for Labour, Mr Yunus Mussa, who wastes no time briefing me on how much he is committed to the cause. But the Government needs support and resources to carry out its plan.
From child labourer to role model
Plan Malawi has pledged twenty million kwachas - about $130,000 USD – to the Kasungu District Committee to increase awareness of the damage child labour does, and provide alternative livelihoods for young people. At a ceremony in front of hundreds of villagers and local officials, punctuated by wonderful singing and dancing, I hand over a huge symbolic cheque to the Minister, who waxes lyrically about the Government’s relationship with Plan.
At the heart of our joint response is the need to “rehabilitate” former child labourers into school. For older kids it is about giving them technical skills and a trade. I saw some very fine joinery and metalwork as we met students from across the district, all of whom had spent their school years well away from the classroom as child labourers. The district has achieved this transition with over a thousand children in the last few years and prevented many more from starting this perilous journey into child labour in the first place.
We meet Emmanuel, a talented boy of 14, who won a state scholarship to Malawi’s top academy after spending many years as a young child, working twelve hours a day seven days a week in the tobacco fields. Emmanuel has won the equivalent of the lottery in his transition from child labourer to elegant scholar and role model for thousands of Malawi children. Ministers see his story as a powerful one to persuade parents to desist from harvesting the short-term gains of child labour for the long term ones of a better educated family.
Courage to tell the truth
I am struck by the commitment of officials and chiefs in the district. There is a discernible pride about the progress so far, and the Minister will shortly propose a new Tenancy Act which will substantially increase the penalties for those employing child labour, including prison sentences of up to five years. At the moment, the fines are too low and act as no deterrent to famers getting rich off the back of child labour.
Malawi, Plan and Child Labour is an unfolding story where measurable progress is being made, and where the power and benefits of advocacy at national level are very evident now. Some eighteen months ago, Plan Malawi had the courage to articulate some inconvenient truths about child labour and tobacco.
The children of Kasungu and other districts are reaping the rewards now.
