Poor Boy With Prosthetic Eye
Hundreds of children are growing up in toxic spaces amid scarcity and deprivation. This casts a serious shadow over their future. Hundreds of children such as Kwaku Debrah below are growing up in toxic spaces amid scarcity and deprivation. This casts a serious shadow over their future. Child Labourer With Artificial Eye Kwaku Debrah is […]
March 30, 2020
March 30, 2020
14 Min read time
Hazardous child labour: Poor boy with a prosthetic (artificial) eye at Agbogbloshie, Ghana. © 2020 Muntaka Chasant
Hundreds of children are growing up in toxic spaces amid scarcity and deprivation. This casts a serious shadow over their future. Hundreds of children such as Kwaku Debrah below are growing up in toxic spaces amid scarcity and deprivation. This casts a serious shadow over their future. Child Labourer With Artificial Eye Kwaku Debrah is […]
Hundreds of children are growing up in toxic spaces amid scarcity and deprivation. This casts a serious shadow over their future.
Hundreds of children such as Kwaku Debrah below are growing up in toxic spaces amid scarcity and deprivation. This casts a serious shadow over their future.
Child Labourer With Artificial Eye
Kwaku Debrah is a 15-year-old e-waste miner who lives on the margins of Accra, Ghana’s capital city. He survives by cannibalizing from e-waste on the fringes of Agbogbloshie, Ghana.
Debrah lost his left eye to an accident when another child fired a sharp African broomstick from a slingshot at him — instantly puncturing his eyeball.
He now wears a prosthetic eye.
Fifteen years old Debrah does all sorts of works, but mainly uses his hands, stones, and hammers to break apart old electronics to retrieve the precious metals inside. This exposes him to toxic materials such as lead, mercury, and chromium.
Hazardous child labour remains a serious global issue.
According to the International Labour Organization’s Global Estimates of Child Labour (2012-2016), 73 million children are involved in hazardous works worldwide.
Child labour is prevalent in Africa than in any other region, with 1 in 5 children (19.6%) working against their will.
Debrah With the 7 Years Old Urban Miner Nicknamed ‘Akufo-Addo’
Read about this hazardous child labour situation and see more photos in the article below:
Urban Outcasts: Children of Agbogbloshie
See hazardous child labour at Agbogbloshie and a missing child found through this article.
Let me know what you think about Kwaku Debrah as he navigates his way through Accra’s tough urban terrains in the comment section below.
© 2020 Muntaka Chasant
March 30, 2020
14 Min read time
MUNTAKA CHASANT
Hi, Muntaka Chasant here. I'm, among many other things, an entrepreneur and a social documentary photographer. I'm here on the front lines of urban struggle — only with my wits and cameras — capturing key moments, collecting untold stories, and helping to forge new paths.
