They hope to chip their way out of poverty, but will they?

*Some names have been changed.

Kilifi County is marked by tall coconut trees, flowers, and yards and yards of white walls made from coral stones. These stones come from various quarries, matimbo, as they are locally known, that dot the county.

Actually, there are as many quarries as there is land here, with some landowners abandoning farming to mine the stones from their land. It is in one of these quarries that a number of families flock as early as 6am to manually hedge out the stones. Wives accompany their husbands and string along their children, some as young as two-months old, hoping to chip their way out of poverty.

One such family is that of James Mwenda, who is at work with his wife and three-year old son. His son, Peter, is in the quarry to “help around”, Mwenda says. The boy looks too small for his age, and is in fact malnourished. He follows his father’s shadow, and when he stops, the small boy stops too and sinks his hands into the white sand, aping his father.

“I want him to know how we make our money. I want him to know our work; this is like an apprentice of sorts. This is how I learnt this trade. No training, just observation,” Mwenda says.

He hopes that one day, his fortune will change, and the cycle of poverty that besieges him and his family will end. This is not likely to happen though, because Mwenda and many of the miners here have been doing this for over 20 years, and are bent, not with old age, but from punishing hard work.

Not too far from where the Mwenda family is that of Ms Pamela Ngao, who comes here every day with her 17-year-old daughter, Terry Ngao. She has four other daughters.

 “I began this job in 1996 after my mother died, and I had to drop out of school due to lack of school fees. This has been my life since,” says Ms Ngao.

TWO QUARRIES

It seems this is her teenage daughter’s life too for many  years to come, unless something, anything, changes.

The mother of five is covered in dust from head to toe, as is her daughter, who like her mother, has a slight build, as a result of countless hours of back-breaking work that will never pluck them away from poverty.

Ngao’s daughter dropped out of school due to Sh1,500 fee arrears – she is working at the quarry to help her mother raise the money, or so mother and daughter convince themselves.

“I am in a private school because I was not performing well in a public school,” explains Terry, who hopes to become a teacher one day.

Together, mother and daughter make about Sh11 and 50 cents per coral stone, however, they have to pay a shilling to the owner of the land, another for the person who contracted them, and 50 cents for each stone loaded into the waiting lorries. In the end, they will have made Sh8 and 50 cents per stone. By the time this stone travels through the hands of the many middle-men and finally reaches the hands of the final buyer, it will cost between Sh30 and Sh50.

In a day, Ngao and her daughter make about Sh300, too little to satisfy the entire family’s day-to-day needs, leave alone pay school fees for everyone.

Ms Ngao works in two quarries to support her family – she works in one from morning to 2pm, and then heads out to another, which mercifully has machines with which she and other workers use to cut out the stones. In the first quarry, she has to make do with a mallet, which is very labour intensive. She lifts and pounds it onto the rocks, fleshing out the white stones with bare hands. Sometimes, the mallet misses and lands on her foot; most of the miners, including Ngao, have a missing toenail. They work barefoot.

The flying stones particles sometimes get into their unprotected eyes and strikes their faces, which bear old and new scars. There is also the fact that they breath-in the fine dust that hangs over the quarry.

 “You can’t sleep without taking medicine for some pain or the other – we also have to take antibiotics for chest infections because of the dust, so part of the money we make goes into buying drugs,” she says.

This is not all though, they also have to go through the indignity of relieving themselves in the open, since the quarries have no toilets, leave alone water to quench their thirst.

Jambo Bakari, 14, has been working in  one of these quarries for three years now. He works alongside his mother after she was unable to raise Sh1,700 fee balance. He makes about Sh90 a day, after working from morning to 6.30pm.

The younger stone miners, between four and nine years, work as lorry loaders. Like conveyor belts, they line up and pass handful of stones to the waiting loader in the back of the lorry. For this day-long, tiring and monotonous task, they make no more than Sh50, which goes to top up their parents’ meagre earnings that day.

An even more heart-breaking story is that of Mercy Charo, 19, who we find here with her two-month old baby, her husband and mother.

The baby is lying on an area that has just had been excavated, the dust just settling. Oblivious of the harsh environment, the child is sleeping soundly as countless flies buzz around her head.

The young mother periodically peeks at her baby between stone breaking and wiping the sweat streaming into her eyes.

ALTERNATIVE INCOMES

“I had no one to leave her with,” she tells us with a resigned shrug. Mercy has been working here since childhood, and unless she gets an alternative way of earning money, this might just turn out to be her child’s lot too.

Her child and the others here are just a small part of a bigger global concern; according to the International Labour Organization (ILO), an estimated 115 million children, (five to 17 years) work in hazardous conditions like these quarries in Kilifi County across the world.

In fact, the ILO estimates that some 22,000 children are killed at work every year globally. Those that survive might develop health problems later in life due to the poor working conditions they were exposed to.

According to Kilifi County Director of Education, Ole Keis Lesanaya Dickson, other than child labour in the quarries, many children here are employed as domestic help, while others get pregnant and drop out of school.

“Most of the parents in this area are unable to afford school fees, and as a result many children stay at home, or help their parents to earn a living,” he explains.

Mr Ole Keis Lesanaya, says that they periodically raid the quarries, and as a result, some of the mines only employ those with Identity Cards.

He adds,

“We have tried to rid these quarries of children, and have even had their parents arrested. Once they are released though, they go back there with their children.”

Child Protection Advisor at Plan International, Kenya, Caroline Okumu, says that it is unacceptable that children are working in quarries.

“We know they are there because of the poverty at home. What is needed therefore is economic empowerment of these families by offering them alternative livelihoods such as farming.”

She adds: “We are seeing how we can work with the communities, police, the private sector as well as with the education arm here to bring a stop to this.”

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A DIFFICULT, BACK-BREAKING JOB MADE HAZARDOUS BY POOR WORKING CONDTIONS

•  Heavy lifting and working with the body in awkward positions can lead to injuries to the joints, head, arms, legs, hips, muscles, and back.

•  Blistered hands and feet and lacerations.

•  Severe chest pains and frequent coughs and occupational asthma.

•  Dust particles can lead to severe lung infections such as silicosis as well as allergic reactions.

•  Risk of tuberculosis due to poor working conditions and poor nutrition.

•  Use of rock hammers and constant vibration in the quarry can damage the nerves and blood circulation, and lead to loss of feeling.

•  Dehydration, skin irritation, and heat stress due to working in very hot conditions without drinking enough water.

•  Reliance on painkillers.

•  Emaciated due to poor nutrition.

•  Fatigue and burnout.

•  Loud constant noise in the quarries can cause hearing problems, including deafness.

•  Long hours working in glaring sun can harm vision and cause eye pain.

•  Children have a longer life expectancy, therefore they have  longer to manifest a disease with a long latency period, and  longer to live with toxic damage.

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FYI 

CHILDREN ARE NOT SMALL ADULTS:

1  Children have thinner skin, so toxics are more easily absorbed.

2 They also breathe faster and more deeply, so can inhale more airborne pathogens and dusts.

3They dehydrate more easily due to their larger skin surface and because of their faster breathing. Children absorb and retain heavy metals (lead, mercury) in the brain more easily.

4 Their endocrine system (which plays a key role in growth and development) can be disrupted by chemicals.

5 Children’s enzyme systems are still developing, so are less able to detoxify hazardous substances.

6 They use more energy since they are growing, and so are at higher risk from metabolised toxins.

8 Their less-developed thermoregulatory systems make them more sensitive to heat and cold.