This is what I saw, firsthand, yesterday afternoon.
We went to visit an orphanage to drop off some food and see the kids for just a little bit. It's not our main 'work' this month to be in this orphanage, but an opportunity I wanted to take.
[And it was worth it.]
When we walked inside the building, there were tons of kids around. A few kids here are deaf, and a few others are special needs kids.
I was so surprised to see all these Hollister Co. bags around. In fact, I was a little naieve to be honest,
until I saw the kids gluing the bags together…
We were told that the orphanage makes these bags in order to support itself because it doesn't have a steady source of money coming in.
[If you look at the company website,
this is the current bag for the season]
They make 5 cents per bag.
They also have a sewing room and make clothes to sell. Many of the girls who grow up in the orphanage stay here, because in the culture here, it is very common for the kids to live at home until they get married. Some of the kids here are able to go to school, but I'm sure the transition of living in an orphanage to integrating into the work force is difficult.
This was so hard to see, because the kids aren't making bags to turn a profit for someone else, it's for the orphanage that they live at.
It's not like they are mistreated unless they make enough bags.
They aren't kicked out for not working.
Is this child labor or kids helping to support the family?
It's a really tough call to make.
Either way, it is unsettling to me.
Im sure that the company is aware of this in some fashion, whether they actively seek this kind of labor or turn a blind eye to it.
Some times I just don't know the answer.
What do you think?
The purpose of me writing this blog isn't to try and take down a company, but rather to question what our society has come to.
What is our response to this type of situation?
