Syeda Ghulam Fatima is no ordinary Muslim women. She is considered Pakistan's modern day Harriet Tubman and she has made it her life's mission to saving others. Fatima works tirelessly to bring about an end to bonded labours. She has been shot electrocuted, and beaten numerous times for her activism in ending bonded labours.
Bricks are the primary unit of construction in Pakistan. They are cheaper than concrete, so almost everything is made out of brick- especially in rural areas.
Bonded labour is the most widespread, but least known form of modern day slavery that has horrifically enslaved many generations in the rural plains of Pakistan. A person becomes trapped as a bonded labourer when their work is required as a form of repayment on a loan. Bonded labourers typically work long, hard hours for little to no pay – and the value of their work eventually becomes worth more than their original loan. Bonded labour facilities typically target individuals who are illiterate, in need of medical help and have no other option. Workers are forced to work in brick kilns under unbearable conditions, and young girls are often beaten and sexually abused. Also, debt is passed down to the next generations- and the next after that.
Fatima’s goal is simple- to end bonded labour. She dedicates every day of her life to stopping the exploitation of workers and to save families. She lives every day to help the less fortunate, who are shamed into borrowing a small amount of cash because of desperate circumstances and become forever trapped in a world of never ending hard labour and growing debt. She estimates around 4 million people in Pakistan alone who are subjected to a life bonded labour.
Fatima is a hero to the people of Pakistan who are in bonded labour. She is an inspiration to me and what she is doing for her country and trying to make a change.
Fatima is like Harriet Tubman because she is trying to stop slavery basically and helping people who are in that bonded labour.
http://www.cnn.com/2015/08/19/asia/pakistan-humans-new-york-bonded-labor/
http://www.businessinsider.com/humans-of-new-york-photographer-fights-pakistan-poverty-2015-8
It's truly a shame that in the 21st century we still have forms of slavery, it seems that we still haven't learned anything as a whole but I'm glad that someone like Syeda Ghulam Fatima and others are working to end this injustice.
ReplyDelete-Shelby Linker, 8th period