Zephaniah Trust
"taking light into dark corners"
Negros
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THE ISLAND OF NEGROS |
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HINIGARAN The municipal offices in Hinigaran still boast an aged machine gun mounted on the first floor balcony pointing out into the town square, a reminder perhaps of troubled colonial times. The British visitors were treated as honoured guests, presented with garlands of seashells and specially made medallions commemorating the occasion. We were ushered into the council chamber where the motto, "Salus populi suprema est lex" has pride of place high on the wall. "The safety of the people is the highest law". Did the vice-mayor deliberately mistranslate the Latin, or is she unaware of the commitment there to look after the people? CHILD LABOUR Legally, children can work only on Saturdays and Sundays, but there are children working between four and six hours in the plantations, the fireworks factories and in the family fishing businesses before going to school. The vice-mayor initially denied that child labour was prevalent or even happening at all in her barangay (district), then modified her stance to point out that it was the choice of parents whether they allowed their children to work in the sugar plantations. "Children are assets" was a revealing statement. An apparent ignorance of the municipal officers of minimum wage (80 pesos a day) was also disturbing. Quidan Kaisahan, Christian Aid's partner on Negros, is setting up micro-finance deals which can enable families to have an alternative, continuous income, thus lessening the need for extra income from child labour, while at the same time putting pressure on the authorities to address the situation.
PYROTECHNICS One of our group mentioned a boy with no hands who we had encountered begging at the airport when we arrived on Negros, and asked whether this was an industrial accident sustained in one of the pyrotechnic workshops in the town. The reply was that the boy in question had lost his hands playing with a firework in the street. "Accidents in the factories result in burns or death," we were told. So that's all right then.
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Office Address:
Zephaniah Office
2a Norwood Road
Shipley
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BD18 2AZ