While we continue to waste countless hours of our lives surfing meaningless pages through the web every day, it is quite rare that we stumble upon a story as inspiring as this one. Especially in a country like ours where crowdfunding is so uncommon, this might be the start of something special.
On the 15th of August, Humans of New York posted a story to raise the issue of bonded labor in Pakistan, a specialized system of modern slavery where the debt grows the longer the people work under it. In Pakistan, an estimated 4 million people are a victim of bonded labor, mainly under the pockets of brick kiln owners.
The response that the crowdfunding page created to aid these people is overwhelming to say the least. In just three days, over $1.3 million have been collected from more than 43,000 donors worldwide. The page highlighting the cause has been shared almost 12,000 times on Facebook already. And these numbers are swelling really fast.
Over $1.3 million have been collected from more than 43,000 donors worldwide
A lot more is required for this to end, though. As is noted, prices are low in a country like Pakistan. Even a small donation can change someone’s life.
The donations are collected by Syeda Ghulam Fatima, one of the few prominent people working tirelessly to eradicate this savagery. Founder of the Bonded Labour Liberation Front along with her husband, Fatima has been intimidated, tortured and even shot for her work, but her voice has only grown stronger.
Her work has also been the subject of the award-winning information series Vice, so be sure to check that out. As I’ve said, even a small amount that you can afford is enough to change the future of anyone’s generation. So keep donating.
The initiative also concludes the Pakistan series of posts from Brandon Stanton, the founder of Humans of New York.
They are doing much betetr then our own dumb leaders and politicians.
See nothing is impossible unless someone wants to do it.
Leave the leaders and politicians. They’re rotten to the core already. What have we as people of this so called “fine” nation have done so far? We should be ashamed of ourselves if it took a foreigner to help out with our “domestic” problems.
Question: Will that money ever reach those poor people like it should?
It will. Because guess what? It’s not Benazir Income Support Program, or Nawaz Metro Useless Project or Never Creating Water Dams of IK.
This is a real and practical project!
AHEM….. THE IMAGINARY DAMS OF IMRAN KHAN
And did these imaginary dams prove any good during these current floods? Back off with your fan-boyhood-ness of Inqalab. Reality stings.
With the amount of labor being employed to construct this dam (as seen from the pic), I wouldn’t be surprised if its date of completion exceeds 23rd century =}
I think the money is just going to the brick kiln owners .. the workers will still be forced to work .. thats what always happens .. anyway foreign currency entering our economy is always a good thing
Just like the term blood diamonds, it’s suggested we come up with a certification system for bricks, so that people can make sure bricks they purchase for construction were not made in kilns with bonded or exploitative labor.
Media could also perhaps name and shame bric kiln owners, publish a list etc., so they don’t appear as respectable people in cities and towns.