While it has long been known that people mining for mica, the mineral widely needed for powering electronic gadgets, cars, and phones, are often working in unbearable conditions, new pictures revealing just how bad the situation is in some places have emerged.
Inside one of the toughest mica mines in Madagascar, children as young as a few years old are forced to work for up to 16 hours per day whereas they only get paid less than $1 per week.
Despite extreme working conditions such as excessive heat and lack of protection from the natural elements, the children, who were born into the world of modern slavery, receive minimal monetary compensation for the work they do.
In addition, they only get to eat one meal per day, whereas they typically eat nothing but rice which they have to share with their family members.
“This story eats at me, makes me angry.
We confronted several of the companies in Madagascar who process and ship the mica. They are well aware that children are a vital part of their business model,” traveler and reporter Cynthia McFadden entrusted DailyMail.com in an interview after recording the harsh truth behind the country’s labor camps.
“They tell us there is nothing they could do. I pray that when people see our story they will demand that companies clean this up.”
In the pictures and videos collected by Cynthia, children are seen sitting on bare ground as they use their dirty, dry hands to mine for mica.
In the footage obtained by DailyMail, McFadden appeared distressed as she came across a hardworking family with four children.
“We see a mother of four working with her kids sorting mica in well over 100 degrees weather. There is no shade. They had been there five hours already, they will be there six more to go. All of them working. Except the baby who just stares,” she said.
“The five share one cup of rice a day. That is all they can afford on the $3.00 a week they earn.”
As the reporter added, she hopes her story will spread and result in more efforts to stop the business model that promotes modern slavery.
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