Ismael “Babu” Hussein works as an assistant in one of Bangladesh’s giant shipbreaking yards, where armies of laborers dismantle huge old vessels with little more than hammers and blowtorches. The work is perilous, the bosses abusive, the hours exhausting. Babu’s reward? Just over two dollars a day, and nightmares about being crushed by giant sheets of steel. Pretty heavy stuff for a 13-year-old kid.
You can hear Sandy Tolan‘s profile of Babu on Marketplace on Thursday, June 18th. There are great photos and an excellent introduction to the issues of shipbreaking and child labor at the WORKING websites – http://marketplace.org/segments/working and http://working.homelands.org.
Please let us know what you think!
Jon