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.
