Brandon Stanton's Blog, page 230

“My sister’s kidneys were failing. We tried to raise the money...

“My sister’s kidneys were failing. We tried to raise the money to save her. We sold our cattle. We sold our property. We sold everything we had. When we ran out of options, I took a 5,000 rupee loan from the brick kiln. I thought I could pay it back by working for 15 or 20 days. But when I thought it was time to leave, the kiln owners did the accounts. They told me: ‘You lived in our house. You ate our food. You owe 11,000 now. If you have 11,000 rupees, you can go. Otherwise get back to work.’ They worked me harder. I never saw my wages. If I wanted to stop, they beat me. A few months later, my grandfather died. I asked for a few days off to arrange his funeral. ‘You owe 30,000 rupees now,’ they told me. ‘If you have 30,000 rupees, you can leave. Otherwise get back to work.’ Now I owe 350,000 rupees. And my sister died a long time ago. There’s no way out. Soon my debt will pass on to the next generation.”

*1,000 rupees = $10
(6 of 7)
(Lahore, Pakistan)

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This is the sixth post in a series on Syeda Ghulam Fatima. Known to her admirers as Pakistan’s Harriet Tubman, Fatima has worked tirelessly to eradicate bonded labor—one of the last remaining forms of modern slavery. This man is one of millions of bonded laborers in Pakistan, and one of the tens of thousands who has turned directly to Fatima to help him escape the violence and cruelty of his owners. Fatima has been electrocuted, shot, and repeatedly beaten for her activism. Despite her outsized impact, she operates on a very small budget. So we are raising money to help her in her mission.

Today is the last day of the fundraiser we are holding for Fatima’s organization, The Bonded Labour Liberation Front. We have raised nearly $600,000 so far. ($400,000 in the past six hours). Costs are low in Pakistan, so this sort of money can be leveraged many times over. We are not just increasing Fatima’s abilities to help free people from bondage. We are MULTIPLYING those abilities. Nearly 20,000 people have contributed so far. That is .13 percent of the people who follow this page. If .2 percent of people who follow this page donated, we could empower Fatima with $1,000,000. I encourage everyone to read the previous posts so far, and consider being counted in our effort to aid Fatima’s fight against modern slavery:http://bit.ly/1N9W3Ts

“My sister fell ill and her medical bills cost 30,000 rupees....

“My sister fell ill and her medical bills cost 30,000 rupees. My father wasn’t getting his salary on time, so we had no options. I took a loan from the brick kiln and agreed to work for them until it was paid off. Other members of my family did the same. We thought it would only take three months. But when I went to leave, they told me I owed them 90,000 rupees. I couldn’t believe it. They told me I couldn’t leave. It’s like quicksand. They only pay you 200 rupees per 1000 bricks, and it all goes to them, and the debt keeps growing. We are supposed to work from dawn to dusk for six days a week, but we never get the 7th day off. They tell me I owe them 900,000 rupees now. There is no hope for me. Every year they have a market. The brick kiln owners get together and they sell us to each other. Just ten days ago my entire family was sold for 2.2 million rupees.”

*1,000 rupees = $10
(5 of 7)
(Lahore, Pakistan)

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This is the fifth post in a series on Syeda Ghulam Fatima. Known to her admirers as Pakistan’s Harriet Tubman, Fatima has worked tirelessly to eradicate bonded labor—one of the last remaining forms of modern slavery. This man is one of millions of bonded laborers in Pakistan, and one of the tens of thousands who has turned directly to Fatima to help him escape the violence and cruelty of his owners. Fatima has been electrocuted, shot, and repeatedly beaten for her activism. Despite her outsized impact, she operates on a very small budget. So we are raising money to help her in her mission.

Today is the last day of the fundraiser we are holding for Fatima’s organization, The Bonded Labour Liberation Front. We have raised nearly $400,000 so far. Costs are low in Pakistan, so this sort of money can be leveraged many times over. We are not just increasing Fatima’s abilities to help free people from bondage. We are MULTIPLYING those abilities. Over 12,000 people have contributed so far. 15,000 people would be 1% participation. One percent may not sound like much, but for a community of 15,000,000 people, I think that is an amazing amount of engagement.* I encourage everyone to read the previous posts so far, and consider being counted in our effort to aid Fatima’s fight against modern slavery: http://bit.ly/1N9W3Ts

*Edit: 15,000 is .1% participation. Luckily I’m taking photos and not teaching math.

“I was born into the brick kilns. I started working at the age...

“I was born into the brick kilns. I started working at the age of 12. The work never ended. We’re expected to make 1,000 bricks per day. We work from 5 AM to dusk. I tried to organize the workers recently to demand fair wages. We held meetings at night, but one of the workers informed on us. The owners called me to the office and beat me. They made the other workers join in. Then they took off all my clothes and tied me to a tree. I begged them not to do it. They left me there for hours. I tried to escape at night. I padlocked my family in the house and I ran into the fields. I came straight to Fatima. Before we could return for my family, the police had helped the owners break into my house. And my daughters were paraded naked in the streets.”

(4 of 7)

(Lahore, Pakistan)

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This is the fourth post in a series on Syeda Ghulam Fatima. Known to her admirers as Pakistan’s Harriet Tubman, Fatima has worked tirelessly to eradicate bonded labor—one of the last remaining forms of modern slavery. This man is one of millions of bonded laborers in Pakistan, and one of the tens of thousands who has turned directly to Fatima to help him escape the violence and cruelty of the owners. Fatima has been electrocuted, shot, and repeatedly beaten for her activism. Despite her outsized impact, she operates on a very small budget. So we are raising money to help her in her mission.

Today is the last day of the fundraiser we are holding for Fatima’s organization, The Bonded Labour Liberation Front. We have raised nearly $250,000 so far. Costs are low in Pakistan, so this sort of money can be leveraged many times over. We are not just increasing Fatima’s abilities to help free people from bondage. We are MULTIPLYING those abilities. Nearly 8,000 people have contributed so far. I encourage everyone to read the previous posts, and consider being counted in our effort to aid Fatima’s fight against modern slavery: http://bit.ly/1N9W3Ts

“I was walking to court to attend a hearing against a kiln...

“I was walking to court to attend a hearing against a kiln owner when suddenly I was surrounded by a group of men. Everyone ran away except for my brother and me. The men told me that I better drop the case. I told them I would not. Then they knocked me to the ground, pulled back my leg, and shot me in the knee. Afterwards they did the same to my brother. We thought we were dead. I was taken to the public hospital but was turned away. Politicians from the local ruling party had forbidden the doctors from treating me. The assailants were never prosecuted. I had to sell my house to afford treatment at a private hospital. But the brick kiln workers came together to try to help me pay for my treatment. Despite their poverty, they gave 5 to 10 rupees at a time. And they lined up to donate their blood.”

(3 of 7)
(Lahore, Pakistan)

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This is the third post in a series on Syeda Ghulam Fatima. Known to her admirers as Pakistan’s Harriet Tubman, Fatima has worked tirelessly to eradicate bonded labor—one of the last remaining forms of modern slavery. She has been electrocuted, shot, and repeatedly beaten for her activism. Despite her outsized impact, she operates on a very small budget. So we are raising money to help her in her mission. As is clear from her story, Fatima puts 100% of her own resources, both physical and financial, into her activism. Every dollar donated will have significant impact. There is no better way to impact the battle against modern slavery than empowering one of its most forceful opponents: http://bit.ly/1N9W3Ts

“Bricks are the primary unit of construction across Pakistan. ...

“Bricks are the primary unit of construction across Pakistan. They are cheaper than concrete so almost everything is made with brick– especially in rural areas. There are 20,000 brick kilns across the country. We estimate that an average of 40 families work on each of these kilns and that each family is required to make 1000 bricks per day. That means 4.5 million people are living in slavery conditions. And so many of these workers are young children. Often they work all day and are denied education. They work in isolated areas, shielded from the eyes of society and hidden from the protection of the constitution. The laws don’t reach the kilns, so the workers live in constant fear of violence and retribution. The kiln owners are so rich and powerful. Their profits represent nearly 3% of Pakistan’s GDP. They put their friends and relatives in the legislature. They bribe and intimidate the police. It is very dangerous to speak out against them. I’ve been attacked and threatened so many times that I no longer fear death.”

(2 of 7)

(Lahore, Pakistan)

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This is the second post in a series on Syeda Ghulam Fatima. Known to her admirers as Pakistan’s Harriet Tubman, Fatima has worked tirelessly to eradicate bonded labor—one of the last remaining forms of modern slavery. She has been electrocuted, shot, and repeatedly beaten for her activism. Despite her outsized impact, she operates on a very small budget. So we are raising money for the organization that Fatima leads: the Bonded Labour Liberation Front. US Dollars can be leveraged for so much impact in Pakistan. Your donation will go very far. So please, let’s help empower Fatima in her fight to end slavery: http://bit.ly/1N9W3Ts

I want to conclude the Pakistan series by spotlighting a very...

I want to conclude the Pakistan series by spotlighting a very special change agent who is working to eradicate one of the nation’s most pressing social ills. Over 20,000 brick kilns operate in Pakistan, supported by millions of workers, and the system is largely underpinned by an extremely close cousin of slavery—bonded labor. Throughout rural Pakistan, illiterate and desperate laborers are tricked into accepting small loans in exchange for agreeing to work at brick kilns for a small period of time. But due to predatory terms, their debt balloons, growing larger as time goes on, with no possibility of repayment, until these laborers are condemned to work for the rest of their lives for no compensation. If the laborer dies, the debt is passed on to his or her children. The practice is illegal. But due to the extreme power and wealth of brick kiln owners, the law is often unenforced in rural areas. It is estimated that well over one million men, women, and children are trapped in this modern feudalist system.

Meet Syeda Ghulam Fatima. Described as a modern day Harriet Tubman, Fatima has devoted her life to ending bonded labor. She has been shot, electrocuted, and beaten numerous times for her activism. Quite literally, she places herself between the workers and their owners. The organization she leads, the Bonded Labour Liberation Front, is small but determined. It is working to set up Freedom Centers throughout rural Pakistan so that every bonded laborer has access to advocacy and legal aid. Fatima operates on a very small budget. So as we learn her story over the next few days, anyone wishing to help empower Fatima can donate to Bonded Labour Liberation Front here:

http://bit.ly/1N9W3Ts

“She doesn’t speak up for herself, so I’m afraid if someone...

“She doesn’t speak up for herself, so I’m afraid if someone harms her she wouldn’t tell me. I don’t learn about things that happen to her until they are reflected in her behavior at home. Recently I found her washing the dishes, and I asked her where she learned to do that. She told me: ‘When I visit my friend’s house, I do the dishes all the time.’”

(Lahore, Pakistan)

“I’ve been getting passed over by smooth talkers my entire...

“I’ve been getting passed over by smooth talkers my entire life. It’s just not in my nature to exaggerate my role. But there’s always that guy who waits until the boss comes around, and then starts loudly giving directions as if he was coordinating all the work.”

(Lahore, Pakistan)

We have located the woman from yesterday’s post, and are...

We have located the woman from yesterday’s post, and are in contact with her. We also have someone in Lahore who is going to help connect her with those who wish to help. In order to streamline that process, we created a new email account for all such offers. She is hoping for someone who can help connect her with services, as opposed to cash donations. If you believe you can help this woman with accommodation and/or medical treatment, please email: honypakassist@gmail.com.

Thanks everyone. Based on the outpouring of offers and support from yesterday, hopefully we can help her heal and get back on her feet.

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“I left an abusive relationship and I have nowhere to go. I have Hepatitis C, so no one is willing to take me in. I don’t know how long I will live. I tried to give her up for adoption so that she’d have a good home. The wife of a minister told me about a place where I could drop her off. But when I got there, I just couldn’t bring myself to do it.” (Lahore, Pakistan)

“My first daughter passed away immediately after she was born....

“My first daughter passed away immediately after she was born. All the reports had been fine leading up to the birth. I lost consciousness in the delivery room, and when I woke up, there was no baby. I had fear in my heart, but everyone kept giving me false assurances. They said that everything was fine, but that the baby ‘just wasn’t feeling well.’ But I knew what had happened. I never even asked to see her. Finally they told me, ‘God has taken his gift from you.’ When this one was born, the doctors had to take her away for five days. Everyone kept telling me not to worry. I thought it was happening all over again.”

(Lahore, Pakistan)