EDUCATION FOR SOLIDARITY: January 2013

Wednesday, 30 January 2013

Landfill Harmonic Orchestra

Landfill Harmonic is an upcoming feature-length documentary about a remarkable musical orchestra in Paraguay, where young musicians play instruments made from trash. For more information about the film, please visit: facebook.com/landfillharmonicmovie

for a better quality, you can also

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE VIDEO

One person's trash is another's violin in this slum built on a landfill in Paraguay. Here in Asuncion, a group of young musicians come together to play everything from Beethoven and Mozart, to Frank Sinatra and The Beatles—on instruments made entirely from trash.

The Orchestra of Recycled Instruments from Cateura got its start here five years ago when a teacher, Favio Chavez, decided to teach kids living near this garbage dump how to play musical instruments.

Lacking money to buy enough instruments, he recruited the help of residents who make a living picking through and recycling trash.

Soon, with the community's help, Chavez and his students had their instruments —all made from recycled materials from the dump. They include guitars made from cans, cellos from metal drums, and brass instruments, like 18-year-old Andres Riveros's saxophone, made from house gutters.

[Andres Riveros, Saxophonist]: "The instrument is made of galvanized pipe used in house gutters. Then this is made with caps, coins and these are keys from doors."

Chavez said he started the music group to keep the children out of trouble.

Child Slavery Uncovered in Apple's Supply Chain

The Guardian, Friday 25 January 2013 19.22 GMT
Juliette Garside , telecoms correspondent

Internal audit reveals 106 children employed at 11 factories making Apple products in past year.

Apple has discovered multiple cases of child slavery in its supply chain, including one Chinese company that employed 74 children under the age of 16, in the latest controversy over the technology giant's manufacturing methods.

An internal audit found a flipside to the western consumer's insatiable thirst for innovative and competitively priced gadgets. It uncovered 106 cases of underage labour being used at Apple suppliers last year and 70 cases historically. The report follows a series of worker suicides over working conditions at Foxconn, the Taiwanese company that assembles must-have products such as the iPad and iPhone, and lethal explosions at other plants.

Apple's annual supplier report – which monitors nearly 400 suppliers – found that children were employed at 11 factories involved in making its products. A number of them had been recruited using forged identity papers.

The report uncovered a catalogue of other offences, ranging from mandatory pregnancy tests, to bonded workers whose wages are confiscated to pay off debts imposed by recruitment agencies. They also found cases of juveniles being used to lift heavy goods, workers having their wages docked as a punishment and one factory dumping waste oil in the toilets.

"Past and Present Child Slavery" Exhibition

In August 2012, Solidarity Youth Path marched along the streets of London with the Exhibition: “Child Slavery: Past and Present” to denounce that there are over 400 million child slaves in the world and to pay homage to Charles Dickens, a writer who appealed to society to take action for social change.

The Walk started at Borough Tube Station and made 8 more stops to finish at Saint Paul’s Cathedral. At each stop, a short performance was held by youngsters of Solidarity Youth Path and a different part of the exhibition was displayed.