Youth share Third World experiences

A panel of seven youth from local chapters of Free the Children, an international children's rights organization, shared their experiences of traveling to Mexico, Jamaica and India at St. Joseph's Provincial House in Latham.

"During this week of loss and destruction to our nation, the work of Free the Children is a sign of hope," said Sister Cathy Kruegler, CSJ, liaison for Free the Children (FTC) to the New York State Labor-Religion Coalition.

Moment of silence

"Lives have been forever affected," he said. "If there has ever been a time to keep a level head, it is now. We must stand together. We must hope and pray for peace."

Rachel Saddlemire, 18, said the aftermath of the bombings is an example of what can happen when people work together. "If everyone around the world gave the way people were giving this week, all of these problems could be eradicated," she said. "It takes a tragedy to help people realize how much we love each other."

Commonality

Casey Chapman, 15, a junior at Catholic Central High School in Troy, said, "Don't just sit there sad about the conditions of the world."

She told the audience some of the ways local youth have made improvements in the living conditions of children in poorer nations. She explained that the Capital District chapter of FTC built a school in Chiapas, Mexico, collected school and health kits for children around the world, and assisted Third World families in finding alternative incomes so that they would not have to send their children to work.

What they saw

Maquiladoras are factories that assemble or produce goods for export, and enjoy significant tax and tariff benefits due to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Over one million Mexicans work in these factories, manufacturing grocery bags used in local supermarkets, airbags for General Motors vehicles and Fruit of the Loom underwear.

While many Mexicans were living in poverty prior to NAFTA, the treaty hasn't improved conditions. "NAFTA accelerated the problems," said Rachel.

Prior to NAFTA, a person working in a maquiladora would make an average of $15.77 a day. After NAFTA, the average wage is $5.12 a day. In addition, the employees lost all benefits.

Jamaica trip

During a two-week period on the island, Emily and Harris volunteered in schools, orphanages, hospitals and homes for the elderly. Despite the poverty, they witnessed a strong faith among the people of Jamaica.

"I was passing out sandwiches to the children," Emily recalled. "One of the smaller boys wrapped up his sandwich and put it away instead of eating it with the rest of the children. When I asked him why, he looked at me with his great big eyes and told me that it was his sister's turn to eat that day."

What they learned

"All of our daily nuisances and problems seemed so trite, so unnecessary in comparison to the struggles that each of these patients faced each day," Harris said of his work at St. Monica's Home for the Abandoned Elderly. "If they could look past their problems, why can't we look past our own? If they could be so grateful for the little they had, why are we so unhappy with the millions of things we are blessed with each day?"

Harris also noticed that although the people he met were impoverished, they were not selfish. "We witnessed a generosity between people," he said. "We saw children sharing our gifts with each other, giving half of a sandwich to a sister, or even to us. They were always looking out for one another. Throughout the trip, I realized not what they were lacking in their country, but rather what I was lacking in my own."

In India

She saw children making baskets, a boy who had spent the past two years on the street selling birds and boys who rowed people across the Ganges River. She was invited by the owner of a silk factory to take a tour of his facility. She was shocked to see a seven-year-old and teenagers working there, and even more surprised that the owner didn't see anything wrong with it.

She watched women take their babies out with them while they begged for milk to feed them. When they were given milk, they would turn around and sell it. "I saw people take the food out of children's mouths," she said.

Solutions

Free the Children, she said, has rehabilitation centers for children freed from child labor. There, in addition to an education, they learn how to play. "They learn to paint and smile for the first time in their life," she said.

Although the youth from FTC visited three different cultures, they learned of ways the people of Mexico, Jamaica and India are similar to Americans.

"Especially now, in this time of violence in the United States, we can understand on a deeper level the pain, but also the hope of these people," said Emily. "People everywhere, despite their background and culture, feel the same pain that we do here. They understand the same joy. And most importantly, they also know suffering, perhaps to a greater extent than we do here. Because of this, it is our moral responsibility to help the people of the world."

(To learn more about Free the Children, visit www.freethechildren.org. The local youth are available to give presentations. Contact Emily Wistar at 439-7529 or Peggy Keogh at 861-5028.)

(09-20-01) [[In-content Ad]]