1. The Devastating Lives of Children in Child Labour
Do you really know about the outside world, what children have to go through to support their
families, and how different children’s lives in Canada are compared to children in developing
countries that have to go through child labour? The daily lives of child labourers are devastating.
From their physical conditions to their mental conditions, the lives of children suffering through
child labour are horrible and it is obvious that it is not the right childhood for children. People
worldwide need to become aware of all the child labour happening daily by looking through the
eyes of child labourers and listening to their stories.
Children in child labour have to go through a lot of different hardships throughout their
daily lives, until their debt is fully paid, which is devastating and not right. In the novel Iqbal, by
Francesco D’Adamo, the children have to wake up and start working half an hour before dawn
(D’Adamo, 2). You think that is bad? Think again, because they also have to work in a dark
dingy room with almost no fresh air, along with several other children (Iqbal: Novel, 1).
Secondly, at lunch the children are overtaken by fatigue and have no energy to talk or even laugh
(D’Adamo, 5). Clearly, child labourers’ lives are devastating, but do you really know the
physical conditions that they are in?
The lives of child labourers may seem hard, but that is not all they have to go through,
they also have to suffer through health problems, poor sanitation, and so much more. Child
labourers have to go through poor sanitation. One example of that is when the children have to
go to the bathroom behind a filthy curtain which hides a Turkish toilet (D’Adamo, 5). Another
example of the children’s physical conditions are, that some children called numskulls are
chained to their looms because they complain and cry too much about the blisters they get from
making carpets (D’Adamo, 3). Thirdly, the children are also often infected by scabies and are so

2. thin, “their ribs almost cut through their skin” (D’Adamo, 94). Children in child labour are
obviously going through horrible physical problems, but have you ever wondered how they felt
inside and the emotions that run through them?
Clearly, health conditions of child labourers are devastating, but let us take a moment and
think about their mental conditions and how child labour affects them inside. Mentally, child
labourers suffer through many problems, such as forgetting who their family members are and
even how they look like or where they used to live (D’Adamo, 88). Children have also stopped
dreaming because they have lost all hope, but they are afraid to admit it because they feel lonely
and thinks no one cares about them (D’Adamo, 2). Children should not feel that way, no matter
how old they are, they should feel loved and cared for. Lastly, the children are often scared of
their masters and sometimes even dream about them sneaking up beside the children when they
are sleeping and whisper in their ears (D’Adamo, 6). The mental states of children in child labour
are clearly horrible and I hope you have understood their stories and looked beyond what you
can see.
Hopefully you have learned a lot about child labour and the conditions children are in,
both physically and mentally. Now I will be telling you why I am trying to make you aware of
their situations and why you should care. In my essay about child labour I have talked about
various topics such as the lives of child labourers, physical conditions, and mental conditions of
the children in child labour. In the end my main concern is to make everyone aware about child
labour and how different their lives are compared to people and children who live in Canada and
the United States. It does not matter whether you are a child or an adult. You can help spread

3. awareness by making posters and sticking them up on walls or putting them in mailboxes, or
even just telling your friends or someone you know about the conditions children in child labour
are in. Before you take down my offer, think about this.. What if you had your childhood taken
away from you to work off your parents’ debt? How would you feel if you were malnourished
and mistreated but no one care and you were invisible to the outside world? Sometimes to feel
someone’s pain, you have to switch places and think about how you would feel if you were in
their position and how they would feel if they were in your position.