Saudia. The same happens here within our borders, Kenya.

These are voiceless men and women and they need someone to echo their concerns. Every day they go through intimidation, threats, abuse, and poor working conditions or should I say dangerous working conditions, poor pay among others at the hand of their masters. This mostly happens in the big cities and towns around big malls and hardware.

These casual laborers faces tell it all: that of despair, fear and hopelessness. They load and offload goods and products from these long trucks. Among the goods and products they offload include cement, mabatis (iron sheets), chumas, paints, etc. The saddest part these hardworking individuals will carry the cement without any protective gear leave alone gumboots. Cement dust is health hazardous when exposed to an individual. Continuous exposure to the same may cause lung problem including cancer. It might also cause other illnesses like TB, silicosis (disabling, irreversible and in some cases fatal lung disease). Ironically you will find their supervisors putting on dust masks even though they do not come into direct contact with the dust (silica). The real workers on the other hand put on slippers and use bare hands. If this is not slavery then I stand to be corrected. They carry the iron sheets without any specialized gloves.  In fact, they improvise their own gloves using polythene bags.

Let’s not turn a blind eye on this but act.

The Ministry of Labor needs to look into this form slavery and take appropriate actions. Slavery is very painful, but being a slave in your own country is more painful.