"On a drizzly Sunday evening in the Zimbabwean capital, three boys aged between six and nine scout for scrap metal just as the informal welders in Siyaso Market are about to close for the day. Early the next day, the boys return to the informal steel fabrication market, which is now partly turned into collection points for discarded metal components, to pick up the scrap for reselling."
"We are only afraid of the dogs that can chase you, but usually we are safe, and no one suspects us [of stealing], says eight-year-old Takudzwa Rapi. Sometimes they allow us to pick the scrap whenever they have something they no longer want. Takudzwa stops by the roadside to buy doughnuts with the previous day's earnings."
"While adult waste-pickers are mostly involved in plastic and bottle recycling in Zimbabwe, children like Takudzwa have also jostled their way into the scrap trade—rummaging for anything from motor vehicle engine components, metal cut-offs from fabrication, or copper- and brass-coated plates. This is despite the country's child labour laws that prohibit employment for children below the age of 16."
In Harare, Zimbabwe, young boys aged six to nine collect scrap metal from informal welding markets and fabrication yards to generate income for their families. Operating in the Siyaso Market near the low-income Mbare neighborhood, these children search for discarded metal components, engine parts, and copper or brass materials before and after school. An eight-year-old named Takudzwa describes feeling relatively safe during these activities and uses his earnings to purchase food for himself and his sister. This child labor persists despite Zimbabwe's laws prohibiting employment for children under 16. Children have increasingly entered the scrap metal trade alongside unemployed adults and those from poor backgrounds who engage in waste-picking activities throughout the city.
Read at www.aljazeera.com
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