According to the UN International Labour Organisation (ILO), the workforce in small-scale gold mines in Africa is built up of 30-50% children under 18 years, reports BBC. Due to the poverty, parents even encourage their children to work in the mines so they can buy food and clothes.
“When you look at the levels of school drop-outs, the closer a school is to a gold mine, the lower the school attendance,” says the regional education director [of western Kenya’s Nyanza province], Geoffrey Cherongis.
One child says it beats going to school on an empty stomach.
“I would rather work here at the mine and at the end of the day they will give me money to spend,” he says.