Haak's APHG

Teaching about human trafficking and child slavery can be very disconcerting and uncomfortable.  How much of the details regarding these horrific situations is age-appropriate and suitable for the classroom?  The BBC is reporting on events with sensitive stories to both give a human face to the story, while protecting the identity of under-aged victims (to read about the production of this comic, read Drawing the News.)  I encourage you to use your own discretion, but I find this comicbook format an accessible, informative and tasteful way to teach about human trafficking in South Asia to minors.  It is a powerful way to teach about some hard (but important) aspects of globalization and economics. 

As geographer Shaunna Barnhart says concerning this comic, "It moves from trafficking to child labor to pressures for migration for wage labor and the resulting injustices that occur. There's differential access to education, gender inequality, land, jobs, and monetary resources that leads to inter- and intra-country trafficking of the vulnerable. In the search for improved quality of life, individuals become part of a global flow of indentured servitude which serves to exploit their vulnerabilities and exacerbate inequalities and injustice. Nepali children 'paid' in food and cell phones that play Hindi music in 'exchange' for work in textile factories - cell phones that are themselves a nexus of global resource chains and textiles which in turn enter a global market - colliding at the site of child labor which remains largely hidden and ignored by those in the Global North who may benefit from such labor."

Tags: Nepal, labor, industry, economic, poverty, globalization, India.

Where is Human Rights Watch? Human trafficing is a crime to humanity!!

First, this shows how India has changed. Many people left India in search of a new life and jobs and the opportunities promised in Great Britain and America. However, one generation later, the immigrants children are moving back to India. India is becoming more Western and its economy is growing and therefore has a lot of opportunities and in many ways more opportunities than America and Great Britain. Parents moved out of India for a better life and children are now moving to India for a better life. India is growing, and it is growing rapidly.

     Also, the article shows how children of immigrants are almost at a disadvantage because they are seen as Indian in the eyes of the British or Americans, but they are not truly Indian because they do not know the full culture as their parents do. It is a new situation for many children, and it has both advantages and disadvantages. They grow up with a snapshot of the culture of their parents at home, but with western culture in school. They know that they are Indian in ethnicity, but they do not really know the culture so they move to India to learn where they come from.

    Finally, India is moving toward becoming a new developed country and a real power in the world. They have a lot of people and the resources to do so. Both Great Britain and America are invested in India as they give many children of Indian immigrants visas to live in India and start companies and help build that country. However, although India is growing, it still has a lot of problems. India has a very large population that the government has trouble supporting so there is a large portion of the population in poverty. These people moving back to India may be able to help out with this problem because they have the resources to start new companies and create more jobs. Overall, this teamwork between America, Great Britain, and India, I think, will benefit India greatly because it will help India grow more and it will help these people find their identities.