Growing numbers of children in Eastern Uganda are abandoning school classes and heading to work in the region’s artisan gold mines. Despite the dangerous working conditions, many children are prepared to take the risk in an attempt to escape poverty.
In Uganda, child labour in the mines is illegal, but it doesn’t seem to be preventing the rising numbers of children working in the region.
It is estimated that at least 250,000 people are mining and dealing in gold in Uganda, thousands of those are children working in mines in appalling and dangerous conditions.
The number of children working in mines increases even further during the weekend and school holidays.
Many miners go weeks and months with very little to show for their exhaustive efforts. For many children, the dream of making it big only a distant mirage, one which comes at the cost of their education.
