U.S. Cracks Down on Farmers Who Hire Children
June 22, 2010
Child advocates welcomed the new efforts but say more needs to be done
From the NYT, June 18, 2010
By Erik Eckholm
WHITE LAKE, N.C. — The Obama administration has opened a broad campaign of enforcement against farmers who employ children and underpay workers, hiring hundreds of investigators and raising fines for labor and wage violators.
A flurry of fines and mounting public pressure on blueberry farmers is only the opening salvo, Labor Secretary Hilda L. Solis said in an interview. Ms. Solis, the daughter of an immigrant farm worker, said she was making enforcement of farm-labor rules a priority. At the same time, Congress is considering whether to rewrite the law that still allows 12-year-olds to work on farms during the summer with almost no limits.
The blueberry crop has been drawing workers to eastern North Carolina for decades, but as the harvest got under way in late May, growers stung by bad publicity and federal fines were scrambling to clean up their act, even going beyond the current law to keep all children off the fields. The growers were also ensuring that the workers, mainly Hispanic immigrants, would make at least the minimum wage of $7.25 an hour….To Read More Click Here.
As FIFA World Cup 2010 kicks off, Zambian youth journalists speak out
June 15, 2010
MONGU, Zambia, 11 June 2010 –
By Michal Rahfaldt
Pedrou (left), 18, and Inonge, 14, were trained as youth journalists as part of World Cup in My Village, a project supported by UNICEF, the Children’s Radio Foundation and other partners.
For Inonge Sitali, 14, a radio dialogue with peers about the FIFA World Cup 2010 – which kicked off June 11th in South Africa – is more than a casual conversation. It is an opportunity to discuss important gender issues in her local community of Mongu, in western Zambia.
“I disagree with the guys out there who are saying that football cannot be played by girls,” says Inonge. “We all have the right to play any sport.”
The radio discussion is part of ‘World Cup in My Village,’ a youth journalism project supported by UNICEF, the Children’s Radio Foundation and other partners in conjunction with the global football tournament. Young reporters trained by the programme are encouraged to document their lives and speak out about the issues affecting their lives.
Young radio reporters
While some of the boys and girls in the group radio discussion agree with Inonge, others are not so convinced.
“Football is a very hard sport, and it requires maximum power to perform, so girls are not suitable to play it,” says Pedrou Kakorio, 18.
Both Pedrou and Inonge were trained in journalism as part of World Cup in My Village. Along with other adolescents in Mongu, Zambia and the Rubavu district of Rwanda, they received audio recorders, cameras and flip video cameras – and were taught the skills needed to tell their own stories.
The project gives young reporters the opportunity to explore pressing concerns in their communities and share their experiences with the rest of the world. Their audio reports will be broadcast on local, national and international radio stations; and additional content will be posted on the Children’s Radio Foundation website and disseminated via social media platforms.
To read more please click here: http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/zambia_53962.html
President Obama Signs LRA Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act
May 26, 2010
Just after 5pm yesterday [5/25/10], President Obama signed the LRA Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act into law, and released a personal statement recognizing the “hundreds of thousands of Americans who have mobilized in response to this unique crisis of conscience.” In doing so he became the first U.S. President to publicly pledge that ending LRA violence and recovery for affected families across central Africa would be lasting priorities.
In a rare move of recognition for the nationwide movement that made this moment happen, the President invited our team and several of our partners to join him in the Oval Office for a ceremony as he signed the bill.
Together, we have just reached a historic summit. As we soak it in, we also recognize that a tough climb remains ahead. Joseph Kony and the LRA are still at large, and vulnerable communities across central Africa remain under attack. Overcoming decades of international neglect toward this crisis will take more than a single meeting — even with the President — or one piece of legislation alone.
But yesterday’s accomplishment provides concrete hope that change is possible. We now have an unprecedented chance to ensure President Obama uses this mandate to lead an international effort truly capable of ending LRA violence once and for all.
–From Resolve Uganda (https://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/2241/shop/custom.jsp?donate_page_KEY=6249)
Street Kids World Cup and the police roundup of kids in South Africa
May 24, 2010
14 year-old Wanda Msani
Just like any other national captain, Wanda Msani is dreaming of glory at the World Cup in South Africa.
But Wanda’s tournament kicked off on 15 March, three months earlier than the Fifa event and for the 14-year-old boy who lives on the streets, there was far more than just a game at stake. “When people walk past us, they look at us like we are dogs. They look down on us like we are not even people, just because we eat from bins,” he says, his eyes burning with anger. “They will see that we can be something.”
More than anything else, Wanda wants to make his father proud, hoping to be allowed to return home to the Umlazi township outside Durban, which he left five years ago, aged just nine. Since then, he has been on the streets – sleeping on pavements, under trees, park benches and alleys with only a cardboard box to offer warmth. “After my parents separated, my father started drinking all the time,” he says. “When he got drunk, he would beat me up so badly he wouldn’t stop. I knew I had to run away.” For Wanda and his team-mates, playing football offers an escape from their hellish lives of constant hunger, an absence of love, the threat of sexual abuse and in which sniffing glue is often the only comfort. But while they hope that football can change people’s perceptions about street kids, it has also brought a new danger to contend with.
The street kids say Durban’s municipal police are forcibly removing children at night and dumping them miles away from town. Some police reportedly use teargas to disorient the children and make them more submissive. City officials have always denied that this campaign is linked to its World Cup preparations or commented on the alleged abuses. They say the round-ups are driven by the need to curb crime in the city centre.
Workers at Umthombo, a charity which co-organised the Street Child World Cup, say they hope the tournament will remind law enforcement officers that the youngsters are not criminals but traumatised children who need greater care and empathy than many hard-handed officers show.
read more at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8567522.stm
Shine Global in Los Angeles!
May 11, 2010
Shine is planning two preliminary screenings of exclusive footage from THE HARVEST in Los Angeles in mid-June. We are excited to share some of the footage that Robin has brought back with our donors and supporters on the West Coast. Shine hopes to expand our donor base and add more members to our Board of Governors. We are looking forward to hearing reactions to never-before-seen footage of THE HARVEST! We’ll keep you posted!
HRW’s New Report on Child Labor in the US
May 11, 2010
In this 99-page report Human Rights Watch found that child farmworkers risked their safety, health, and education on commercial farms across the United States. For the report, Human Rights Watch interviewed 59 children under age 18 who had worked as farmworkers in 14 states in various regions of the United States.
To read the report visit http://www.hrw.org/node/90126
To read the press release visit http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2010/05/04/us-child-farmworkers-dangerous-lives.
To learn about facts visit http://www.hrw.org/support-care.
Mackenzie Bearup
April 22, 2010
A 16-year-old girl, Mackenzie Bearup contracted a painful disease that would leave most children hopeless and resentful; instead she was prompted to soothe her pain and share a glimmer of hope with the homeless and abused children around her.
The disease, Complex Regional Pain Syndrome, leaves the patient in excruciating pain and has no cure. During her treatment, she found that reading books was the greatest escape to help her through. She decided that other children experiencing pain, emotional and physical, could relate so she decided to find a way to help others.
“Reading isn’t just an escape, you can learn a lot, too, and that’s very important for homeless and abused children,” said Bearup. “Staying in high school is one of the things that will help you most in life, to be able to get a job and be able to support yourself.”
Since 2007, Bearup has collected and donated more than 38,000 books for homeless and abused children in six states. Recently, she launched “Sheltering Books” as she hopes to continue sharing her remedy with the world.
To read more about Mackenzie, visit http://www.cnn.com/2010/LIVING/04/08/cnnheroes.mackenzie.bearup/
The Forgotten Victims: Women and Girls in Uganda
April 22, 2010
Kampala — The fate of thousands of women and girls held as sex slaves and child soldiers by Uganda’s Lords Resistance Army rebels hangs in the balance.
Since the insurgency began in 1986, the LRA has abducted thousands of women and girls. Some find opportunities to escape their captors, but according to a 2008 UNICEF Humanitarian Situation Report, approximately 3,000 women and children are still held by the rebels.
The delay in signing a peace agreement between the government of Uganda and the LRA has raised fresh concerns about their fate.
Forgotten victims of war
“The women in captivity have actually always been forgotten. We must advocate for them. They are still suffering,” says Jane Adong Anywar, Legal Officer at the Women’s Initiative for Gender Justice, an organisation advocating for justice for women in armed conflict and war through the International Criminal Court….
To read the rest of this article please visit http://allafrica.com/stories/201004201051.html.
Two Hugely Successful Events in Texas!
April 12, 2010
In February and March a few extremely generous hosts organized fundraising events for Shine to raise funds for The Harvest. We raised an incredible amount of money that is integral to finishing this documentary and putting together a marketing plan! We are so grateful to all of the attendees and our remarkably giving hosts. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.
In addition, we want to highlight The Valley Alliance of Mentors for Opportunities & Scholarships (VAMOS), a nonprofit organization run primarily by devoted volunteers. Its goal is to provide renewable scholarships to all deserving Hispanic students in Hidalgo, Cameron, and Starr counties (Texas) for the purpose of completing a post secondary education. VAMOS is run by many of our generous donors, and we are so proud of the work that they do. Please check out their website, http://www.vamosscholars.org/index.php.
Dr. Quiñones-Hinojosa, Child Worker Turned Brain Surgeon
April 12, 2010
Alfredo Quiñones-Hinojosa transformed himself from former child migrant worker to renown neurosurgeon. In the San Joaquin Valley, Quiñones-Hinojosa worked the vegetable fields seven days a week, sunup to sundown. He balanced his hours working long days while also taking night classes at a local community college. Excelling in all his science studies, he applied and became a new candidate at Harvard Medical School. “Someone asked how I’d come to Harvard. ‘I hopped the fence,’ I said. Everyone laughed. They thought I was joking.” Quiñones-Hinojosa accredits his success to his hard-work ethic he learned in his childhood and the incredible mentors he met along the way. He now resides at the John Hopkins Medical Center as the neurosurgery clinic head, teacher/mentor, and practicing neurosurgeon. He nearly 250 brain operations a year, with a high success rate.
To read more about Dr. Quiñones-Hinojosa, please visit: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/13/science/13conv.html?_r=1
