The winning photo of a boy casting a fishnet in Callawa River. (contributed photo courtesy of Kaugmaon Foundation)
By TYRONE A. VELEZ
Davao City — In 49 photos displayed in a photo exhibit-cum-contest, one could barely see a child smiling in the pictures.
Instead, these children, with ages ranging from eight to fourteen, are shown sweating and weary-eyed as they scoure garbage in the streets, carry bananas or break coconut husks, keep watch on their stalls with meat and fruits in the market late at night, or sell candies and fruits along highways.
The photos are taken not by professional photographers or hobbyists. Rather, they are taken by child laborers themselves, organized by the child rights group Kaugmaon (Future) Center for Children’s Concern Foundation.
The exhibit-contest was held last Saturday at the Davao Medical School Foundation Training Center and organized by Kaugmaon with AWO Foundation and Ateneo Public Interest and Legal Advocacy Center in observance of Children’s Month this October.
Florie May Tacang, Kaugmaon executive director, said the photo contest-exhibit is a first for the group, which had been conducting children advocacy work for 29 years.
The photos are taken using point-and-shoot cameras, which the children had to borrow from relatives or neighbors. They underwent basic photography course by the Resource Center for People’s Advocacy.
“We want to have these pictures taken by children themselves, so we can show the existence of child labor in this city awarded as a child-friendly city. We want to show the hardship and hazard of children exposing to survival at their young age,” said Tacang.
The Department of Labor recorded 114,000 child laborers in Davao Region.But Tacang said Davao’s City Social Service Development Office had not kept records of child labor in the city.
“This makes our work difficult, especially when people asked us about statistics in Davao. It is like child labor is ‘invisible’ here,” said Tacang.
Kaugmaon had been organizing 500 children engaged in child labor in four barangays in the city’s second district, namely Callawa, Panacan, Tibungco, and Ilang, and engaged parents and community leaders to address this issue.
“It is a challenge, because it is hard to change the culture of people thinking that it is normal for children working, learning to survive with skills at a young age. We had to change this gradually,” Tacang said.
Her group engaged the barangays children committee by having them list down children who are working.
“There were fears from parents that they might be sued or reprimanded. But we explained to them that we are not telling them to stop children from totally working, rather we ask them to minimize the hazards of children at work,” she said.
Tacang said one can categorize a child laborer when a child works way past evening or early morning, or when a child is exposed to hazards in the streets to the elements.
“The hazards include health risks where they are exposed to chemicals in plantations or infections in garbage sites, or they risk accidents in workplace or in the streets. They are at risk also to people who might exploit or abuse them,” she said.
Kaugmaon is pushing for more action and involvement from stakeholders in protecting children and their rights, and will present a situationer and recommendations in a forum on October 16.
City Councilor Leah Librado, who chairs the Council’s committee on women and children, said the city has enough local laws covering the protection of women and children but admitted implementation is wanting.
The photo exhibit will be staged throughout October starting in Museo Dabawenyo (October 7 to 12), People’s Park (October 14 to 19) and Sangguniang Panlungsod Lobby (October 21 to 25).
(Tyrone A. Velez, davaotoday.com)
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