She looks like a butterfly.
To the people concerned that family businesses in the third world utilizes the labour of their young children - yes, yes they do. And so did yours when y'all lived on farms or during the industrial revolution when workerâs rights and child care hadnât been invented yet. Labourers here bring their children to work and they sometimes help their parents, because there is not much else to do. That is different from children who help in family-run businesses. Which is again different from child sweat shops and child begging rings.
The fact that you either see no difference or that you think you are qualified to tell which one this is from a 30 second clip is *infuriating*. For all you know, this child goes to school and leads a happy life but happily pitches in to help churn butter when he can, especially for an opportunity to be on TV.
In any case, if you, First World consumers, decide to condemn this woman, this documentary and decide to boycott this painstakingly, proudly made shea butter, around which an entire way of life is constructed in Ghana? You could starve this child, his family, bankrupt their business and drive the economy of this country deeper down a hole, thanks to your so-called âethicsâ.
Caring is not the same as outrage. Caring means respect and learning and understanding where you can safely interfere and join activism where it is needed. The Third World has enough and more anti-child-labour grassroots activists who already ask for funds and political backing from international aid agencies.
Outrage means you see this video of a beautiful black woman showcasing her cultural heritage and their countryâs labour of love in one of their arterial industries, and you spit in it for not meeting your idealized First World standards. You again relegate her voice, her struggling country and proud heritage into something subpar, inadequate and wanting.
You donât care. You only want to feel good about yourself without doing any of the work. Itâs hurting the very people you say you want to save. Please shut up and sit down.
