非洲采金童工生活

80后和90后這兩代人無疑是幸福的。我們沒有經歷過動蕩，生活日漸富裕，被父母捧在手心，接受良好的教育，有電玩、能上網，所得到的一切都是精挑細選的……身邊卻有不少人總埋怨生活太沉悶、要求無法得到滿足……是時候停止這些過分的抱怨了。想象一下可憐的童工們，難道我們的生活對于他們來說不是一種奢望嗎？

Every week more children arrive to work in the hundreds of 1)primitive mines in the bush. Here they endure long hours at dangerous jobs， bringing 2)flecks of gold from the dirt with 3)mercury. One of them is a 12-year-old boy named Saliou.

This is a region of Africa where boys of Saliou’s

age are expected to earn money for their families. He works in a bush mine on a Senegal-Mali border in the village of Tenkoto. Senegal 4)prohibits anyone under 18 from doing 5)hazardous work and mining is among the most hazardous of jobs. According to the UN， mining is one of the worst forms of child labour. However， the laws are seldom enforced.

Children travel from mine to mine moving with the gold. The AP注1 reports that six months after Saliou arrived in Tenkoto， it was decided that the mine was nearly 6)depleted. So he and the boys walked for more than a week， crossed the Senegal border and arrived at another mine in Mali. It’s the same story here as at the mine in Tenkoto. Teenage boys 7)clamber down mine 8)shafts 30 to 50 meters deep. Younger teens then 9)yank the rocks up with a 10)pulley. 11)Squatting next to a plastic tub， boys of school age pour mercury onto their bare hands.

Mercury attracts gold like a magnet. The World Health Organization says that mercury is a potent nerve 12)toxin and can affect the brain. It’s especially dangerous

for children since their nervous systems are still

developing. Typical 13)symptoms of mercury poisoning

include mental 14)retardation， loss of balance，

15)tremors， blindness and loss of hearing.

Susan Gunn (Sr. Technical Adviser， IPEC注2): In

addition to the actual work that they do is that they carry very heavy loads， they are exposed to chemicals like mercury which cause extreme danger to the…which pose an extreme danger to the nervous system， kidneys，

the 16)respiratory system， 17)reproductive system.

Once the tiny flecks of gold have been extracted， the buyers step in offering roughly US$19 per gram. Once the deals are done， the gold is taken to the capital of Mali. Here the price for gold from Tenkoto is almost US$23 a gram， nearly US$4 more than the buyers paid the miners.

United Nation’s mining experts estimate that 10-20% of the thousands of mine workers in West Africa are children.

Gunn: Frankly it’s a…it’s a very serious problem， we estimate about one million children worldwide are

involved in small scale mining.

Precisely which products contain child-mined gold， no one can say for sure. Unlike a diamond， gold does not keep its identity on its 18)tortuous journey from mine to market.

The AP reports one 19)prominent retailer， Tiffany Company注3 has expressed concern about child

labour and frustration that it can’t 20)certify its products are free of gold mined by youngsters. Because bush mines where child labour is 21)ubiquitous， supply a fifth of the world’s gold according to the UN， the company realizes its supply lines may well be 22)compromised. Tiffany Company is part of the Council for Responsible Jewellery Practices注4 which was formed to seek ways to help reduce the market for gold mined by children. But the council has founded no effective way to enforce 23)compliance.

For Saliou， the work in the mines goes on. He says he dreams that one day he’ll own something made of gold.

每周都有越來越多的兒童來到這片叢林中，在成百上千個原始簡陋的礦坑中工作。在這里，他們進行著長時間的危險作業，用水銀從泥土里淘取黃金顆粒。一個名叫“塞利尤”的十二歲男孩就是其中一個。

在非洲的這一片地區，孩子到了與塞利尤相仿的年紀時，家里便指望他們賺錢養家了。塞利尤在塞內加爾和馬里邊境的坦可多村的灌木礦區工作。塞內加爾禁止任何未滿18歲的人從事危險工作，而采礦正是最危險的工種之一。聯合國的資料顯示，采礦是童工最糟糕的工作形式之一。然而，法律很少真正落到實處。

童工們跟隨著金源從一個礦區遷移到另一個礦區。美聯社的采訪稱，在塞利尤到達坦可多半年后，礦主斷定這座礦差不多被開采枯竭了。因此，塞利尤就和其他童工一起搬遷，徒步走了一個多星期，越過塞內加爾邊境，到達馬里的另一片礦區。在坦可多這邊的礦區也是相同的情形。十幾歲的孩子們吃力地沿著金礦礦井深入到約30至50米深的位置。年齡稍小的孩子則用滑輪使勁地把巖石拉上來。