After church, we jumped into the bus and drove a few km further into a complicated network of brick kilns and brick factories. There are some 25 – 50 brick kiln operations in this area, each of which is owned by companies or individuals who “employ” large numbers of bonded laborers in their workforces. Let me tell you what that means. That means that if you are poor in India, you can go to one of these brick kiln owners and “sell” yourself and your family into slavery. The owner of the factory “owns” you. You are only allowed to leave to get food, and if you try to escape, they will find you and beat you (if not worse). You sleep at the kiln. You work whenever the owner tells you to work, and you work as long as he tells you to work. Because of cycles of debt with few opportunities to ever “get the upper hand”, many people just stay in slavery (along with their entire families) for their entire lives.
We spoke with one man and asked about his life situation. He told us that his son is very sick. That the hospital bill for his child is about the equivalent of $1,000 USD (an astronomical sum for a poor Indian family – it would be the equivalent of $100,000 USD for us, or maybe even $1 million), and that without any way to secure a loan to pay the bill, he was left with little recourse other than selling his entire family into slavery. You see, the owners aren’t dumb. By loaning the man $1,000, they own him for life. And because he can’t get money any other way, the owners know they will always be able to depend upon a continual stream of desperation to fuel their workforce.
Bonded slavery is illegal in India, of course. There is rigid legislation to prevent it. However, most Indians still don’t know that it’s illegal, and there is a tremendous “gap” between legislation and enforcement at all levels. As a result, our teams will be seeking to provide that education to people like those pictured here (each one a bonded slave laborer in a brick kiln similar to the kind mentioned above), as well as provide training and opportunities to other options so that people don’t have to resort to these extreme means to cultivate necessary funds when they need them.
After church, we jumped into the bus and drove a few km further into a complicated network of brick kilns and brick factories. There are some 25 – 50 brick kiln operations in this area, each of which is owned by companies or individuals who “employ” large numbers of bonded laborers in their workforces. Let me tell you what that means. That means that if you are poor in India, you can go to one of these brick kiln owners and “sell” yourself and your family into slavery. The owner of the factory “owns” you. You are only allowed to leave to get food, and if you try to escape, they will find you and beat you (if not worse). You sleep at the kiln. You work whenever the owner tells you to work, and you work as long as he tells you to work. Because of cycles of debt with few opportunities to ever “get the upper hand”, many people just stay in slavery (along with their entire families) for their entire lives.
We spoke with one man and asked about his life situation. He told us that his son is very sick. That the hospital bill for his child is about the equivalent of $1,000 USD (an astronomical sum for a poor Indian family – it would be the equivalent of $100,000 USD for us, or maybe even $1 million), and that without any way to secure a loan to pay the bill, he was left with little recourse other than selling his entire family into slavery. You see, the owners aren’t dumb. By loaning the man $1,000, they own him for life. And because he can’t get money any other way, the owners know they will always be able to depend upon a continual stream of desperation to fuel their workforce.
Bonded slavery is illegal in India, of course. There is rigid legislation to prevent it. However, most Indians still don’t know that it’s illegal, and there is a tremendous “gap” between legislation and enforcement at all levels. As a result, our teams will be seeking to provide that education to people like those pictured here (each one a bonded slave laborer in a brick kiln similar to the kind mentioned above), as well as provide training and opportunities to other options so that people don’t have to resort to these extreme means to cultivate necessary funds when they need them.
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