Response to CST's

1. The most important CST teaching is CST#7 Care For God's Creations. This CST is important because we should take care of ourselves and our planet. God placed us on Earth to take care of it including the animals, seas, plants and ourselves. We should not love the creations God has created for us and should always cherish them and not destroy them.

2.What suprised me in this teaching is that the poor and the powerless that must bare the burden of the Earth's dramatic changes. Everyone must work together in order to keep the Earth clean and make safe areas in the enviornment. I did not expect to see the teachings from Catholic church because many church leaders focus on the death penalty and the treatment of others and not focused on the enviornments at hand.

3. The church teaches that humanity is called to act upon caring and preserving the Earth for future generations. Many Christians act to keep the Earth from being crippled and weak and follow Christ's teachings of love and care. The church usually acts by setting up special events and letting the public aware of the situations the world is facing and they want them to act upom them.

Child Labor Poster

Lets Put An End To Child Labor For Good!!

Child Labor and the Global Village: Photography for Social Change

http://www.childlaborphotoproject.org/

Save The Children Of Our Future!!

Action Reflection

The action I took for the Social Justice project was the poster. I chose the poster because I want others to know how children are being treated as slaves than human beings. Many children around the world are being forced work against their will and are treated like animals. I hoped to achieve that everyone would join together as one and help stop child labor. I also hope that if everyone helped to end child labor, they should show compassion and kindness because many children want love and compassion and not work. I felt that I was successful because I asked others if they were for child labor or against it and they said they were against child labor because it is immoral and that children should be learning and being a kid. In the future I would see myself standing up for those voices that plea to end child labor to their governments and make their voices heard. This project helped me think that everyone, including children are God’s children and that we should not treat each other this way. As God’s children, we must love those who are being oppressed and even the oppressors because Jesus taught us to forgive our enemies no matter how much we hated them.

Narrative:Seba-Household Slave

Slavery can take many different shapes. They can be working in the fields or running errands for their masters. One individual’s recollection of slavery is Seba, born and raised in Mali by her grandmother. A woman that Seba’s family knew told her grandmother that she would enroll her in school and learn French. By the time she arrived in Paris, she was forced to work, clean and take care of the children. Seba had to work from 7 a.m.-11 p.m. everyday. She slept in the children’s bedroom on the floor and was only fed scraps of leftovers. Seba was periodically beaten by her masters and their mistress that formed her situation as a household slave and her right of “choice.”
One day during her time living in Paris, Seba asked her master that she wanted to go to school. Her master replied, “We had not brought you here to France to go to school, but taking care of the children (Bales 10).” Seba was suffering false hope from her masters. She was promised that she would go to school and learn French, but instead had to work. This injustice is being caused through false hopes of a better life in order to make them believe they’ll have a better life. The master was disguised as an innocent woman from France representing her country and government, to give Seba a chance of a better life, but resulted in cruel labor and beatings.
In 1992, Seba was one day late picking up the kids at school and by the time she brought the kids home, her mistress and her master’s husband were furious. They began by beating her up and then they threw her out on the streets. Seba did not have anywhere to go and could not understand the language and wandered the streets. The master’s husband found her and then took her home. Seba was suffering horrible beatings by her mistress and husband and that by being late to pick up the kids from school, their mood changes from nice to evil. This is related to CST #2 , Call to Family, Community, and Participation because although Seba is a slave, she is family to her master and should not act towards being mean. By finding and picking up Seba from the streets, the husband disguises himself as a good husband by going to get her and bring her back home, but after bringing her back home, he transforms into a mindless monster.
After her master’s husband brought Seba back home, Seba was beaten up again, but this time worse. Seba describes her beating when she arrived, “there they stripped me naked, tied my hands behind my back, and began to whip me with a wire attached to a broomstick. Both were beating me at the same time. I ws bleeding a lot and screaming, but they continued to beat me.” Seba is suffering mass beatings from the husband and mistress. Her cruel beating was a punishment of not picking up the children on time and had to suffer the consequences. This is related to CST# 1, The Life and Dignity of the Human Person because human life is very sacred and we should cherish and protect and not trying to destroy it. The husband was described as a good moral person until he began beating Seba up like a deranged animal for picking up the kids late. After years of being a slave, getting repeatedly beaten by her masters, Seba was finally freed after neighbor-heard sounds of abuse and beatings. The neighbor was able to see her wounds and scars and notified the French Committee against Modern Slavery and took Seba into care. Today, Seba is well cared and living with a good family and receiving the best counseling, and education. During her years as a slave, Seba’s understanding of the world was less developed. She was not able to understand the idea of “choice.” Seba was still unable to grasp the idea because her entire life she was working and was never given a “choice.” Seba’s story helps illustrate a picture that poor families can be easily manipulated and given false hopes to their children and promising them a better life, but then they transform themselves as good people into evil mindless monsters.

Suffering of child labor - prayer

We pray for the kids, who work all over the world, who receive no respect

for their efforts, who work hard to support their families, who work because

they are in poverty.

We pray for the employers of these kids, that they will come to realize what

horrible things they are doing to them, these kids who are forced to work for

small wages.

We also pray for families of these kids who are put into child labor, that their lives will get better and they will find a way to get income without putting their children in dangerous labor.

We pray for all the people who make the effort to correct this issue of child labor.

We pray to you God to help these people in need.

Amen.

image: http://files.dipdive.com/1241812231/mediaItem/20989/44098/children20peace20world20sm.jpg

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Background on child labor

Child labor is the employing of children to do work in harsh conditions. This topic is a harsh and very difficult issue to deal with it. There are many reasons why people want to keep child labor and many reasons to get rid of it. Child labor has originated from poverty. Many families around the world live in poverty. Those families look to child labor for a source of income and support to survive the month. Child labor creates harsh working conditions for children, families suffer, and banning child labor won't solve the problem.

Many children are not respected by their employers and work in dangerous working conditions. "Over a million formers Kenyan school children now work producing crops. These jobs are dangerous, as children are overworked, underfed, and ill from exposure to pesticides"(Fanning 85). Len Morris, film maker, says," eyes get poked, legs get cut, arms get scraped. There are no doctors. If a child is injured, he or she is left to suffer" (Morris 89). This is just one of the hundred different types of harsh child labor. Child labor is growing larger everyday because poverty is increasing in many countries in today's world. This results in many systems that participate in child labor, meaning that any country that has high result poverty is included in the system that participates in child labor.

Many families and corporations suffer because of child labor laws. There were about 20,000 children that worked in the garment factories, until a new reform came out (Weiner 167). Now children are now to put to school. This may sound good, but its not in Bangladesh. The statistic is that 35% of kids in Bangladesh don’t make it past primary grades (Weiner 167). Bangladesh has suffered because it depends on apparel exports for three- fourths of its vital foreign- exchange dollars (Weiner 167). "The United States buys about 40% of the $4.5 billion in apparel exported by Bangladesh, helping turn the country into one of the worlds largest producers of men's dress shirts and khaki pants" (Weiner 168). This means once Bangladesh factories lay off thousands of their children workers, this means that they won't be able to produce as much as they could before. This will allow big countries, like the United States, to stop buying as much products from them. When this happens Bangladesh's economy will decline drastically.

Banning child labor won't solve the problem of keeping children safe and economic problems. Child labor originates from poverty. "Ban on the worst forms of child labor in poor countries is unlikely to be welfare improving" (Pallage 195). Children end up working in the illegal or black market sector of the economy. Parents in poorer countries, just like in richer countries, do not want their children to work. Poor parents only look to child labor to receive income to survive." Poorer countries and their citizens (including children) do not benefits from he ban of child labor( Weiner 198). "Many young former factory workers ended up in far more dangerous jobs, including prostitution, because their families depend on their wages for survival" (Weiner 171). "One girls told me," I was earning $39 at the garment factory and I was helping my seven member family survive. Please give my job back"(Shefali 171). Families use their children as a source of income and support. Without having their children working in the factories, families are suffering even more. Families would now have to put their kids in more dangerous jobs, which make the families in poverty situation more difficult to deal with.

The question is, who is helping with the topic of child labor? There are many ways to slow down child labor, but it's very difficult to end child labor. In the previous paragraphs child labor has originated from poverty, so the only way to end child labor is to end poverty. People are responsible to take care of this topic. There is one idea to slowly end child labor which is, improving economic conditions by promoting free trade is a more effective and long lasting solution to end the need for child labor (Weiner 194). Corporations and laws have helped and even hurt countries that use child labor. Some children benefit by going to school to get an education. Many children end up still working more dangerous job just so their families can survive. There are many organizations like the International Labor Organization that help end child labor. The only way to end this harsh topic is for that people around the world help each other out of poverty.

CST #7 Care for God's Creation

" Humanity is called to a stewardship of all God's creation, that the benefits of the present gifts of creation can be preserved and protected for future generations as well as the present generation"(McKenna 117). "It is the poor and powerless who most directly bear the burden of current environmental carelessness"(McKenna 118). Human beings are part of nature. This CST talks about how people who live on earth have the responsibility to take care of their home, the earth. The way child labor relates to this CST is that children need to work in safe areas and environment. If the environment is not take care of, the children will be working in unsafe working conditions and area. if the environment is taken care of, children working will benefit. Child labor is harsh for children, but if children are able to work in safe areas, they are able to have somewhat a better life.

CST #6 Solidarity

"The church teaches a basic solidarity among all citizens and a responsibility to work together for the benefit of all"(McKenna 101). "Every human being is a person with a nature endowed with intelligence and free will"(McKenna 101). Also every human has rights and obligations in his or her life. The natural law provides the right to share in the benefits of culture and basic education. Child labor fits well into this CST of Solidarity. These children are working because they are obligated to make income for the family, so that the family is able to survive the week or month. Child labor goes against natural law. These kids are denied the benefits of culture and basic education.

CST #5 The Dignity of Work and the Rights of Workers

"The church proclaims in its teachings on social justice the need to repect employees and their rights to a just wage, decent work, safe working conditions, association, disability proctection, security in retirement, and economic initiatives"(McKenna 77). The church talks about how God gave the whole human race that earth to use, and not just certain individuals. One class of people cannot oppose another class od people. Workers are not to be treated as slaves. This CST also talks about how wrokers always should be treated with human dignity. Even though child labor is harsh labor for children, employers should not take away the rights and diginity of their young workers. These kids are put to work because the reason that the families are in poverty and need income. When taking away the rights and dignity of the child workers, it goes against the CST because "workers always be treated with human dignity".

CST #4 Option for the Poor and Vulnerable

"Catholic social teaching proclaims that an important dimension of the gospel of Jesus Christ is the respect, diginity, and assitance that are given to the poor and lowly within society, with whom Jesus Christ so intimately identified himself"(McKenna 57). This church talks about how economically developed countries should help poorer countries and give respect. It is also necessary for commonwealths to cooperate with one another and provide mutual assistance. This relates to our topic because if developed countries helped out poorer countries, this could start the process to end child labor. In most poor countries, poverty act as a base for child labor. If all the countries would be able to give mutual assitance to one another, the process of ending slavery can start.

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CST# 3 Rights and Responsibilities

"The church proclaims the right of all to the common good, personal responsibility as well as social rights. It is the responsibility of the state to ensure that the basic rights of each citizen are preserved and defended"(McKenna 47). The church talks about how people are called to have fairness in any agreements and exchanges between other individuals or private groups. The effects of past discrimination to discrimination of our time continues to keep out members of racial minorities from the high life of the American life. Child labor takes away the rights of children who participate. These kids are unable to live a proper life. Some families look to child labor because their family is suffering through poverty. When kids are put into child labor, the employers have the responsibility of respecting and taking care of their children workers.

Picture:http://www.instablogs.com/media/2007/06/child-labor_18.jpg

CST#1 - The Life and Dignity of the Human Person

Many children lives around the world are being threatened with force enslavement. The life of a child is precious and sacred, but it is being taken away by working for their supervisors/masters. Their lives are more important than the items they create with their tiny hands. Every child is created in God's image and their lives must be protected and not locked away in chains of enslavement. The Catholic Church proclaims that the life of a human is a sense of morale for society. If others understand this concept, then force enslavement of children will cease to exist.

Picture:http://mancelovici.files.wordpress.com/2007/07/nike_child_labor.jpg

CST # 2 Call to Family, Community, and Participation

"Family is recognizing as the basic unit of society, where the values of the social teachings of the church are affirmed and taught" (McKennna 41). Families have the right to choose things that are necessary for protection and a just life. Parents have this obligation to see that their child or children are provided with all the necessities of life. The family is considered sacred. This ties in with our topic of child labor. Families, especially the poor families, put their kids in child labor because they believe that this will provide the necessities for the family. Kid are participating in labor to support their family and help make ends meet. If child labor is helping families survive every week, those families believe its important to keep child labor.

Picture:http://www.instablogs.com/media/2007/04/child-labor-india88_26.jpg

Introduction

Child labor harms children and keeps them from attending school. Throughout history, the seperations of the rich and poor have forced millions of children into child labor. Underage children work all sort of jobs around the world because their families are suffering extreme poverty.

Niko: Child labor is a major issue that must be dealt with. Child labor is spread through out the world. There are many perspectives on child labor. People believe that child labor has postive and negative effects. Even though child labor is such a big topic, people and organizations have a hard time getting rid of it.

Travis: Child labor is immoral. they take away the dignity of the children by making them work in horrible conditions. Many governments around the world do not take a lot of action to child labor because there is a fear that their economy will collapse. since organizations are trying to stop child labor their voices are never heard my their own government.

Second Post Assignment - CST #1 and # 2

Catholic Social Teaching and the Problem of Child Labor

Child labor is a hot topic, which barely any people pay attention too. Poverty is the base of child labor. Child labor is spread all over the world. Many people have taken action by making laws to get rid of child labor. The problem is that the laws that are made to end child labor is not having any positive results. Some families need child labor to survive. This issue is hard to stop because countries need this type of labor to keep their economy going. There are many views on this topic. The question that we should be asking ourselves is, “ Should we get rid of child labor?”