Syria's child labour problem: Abdullah's story

Business Daily

BBC

News, Business

4.4 • 796 Ratings

🗓️ 14 March 2023

⏱️ 19 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Abdullah lives in northern Syria. He is 14, he lost his mother and brothers to the Syrian civil war. For years now Abdullah has been working to feed the rest of his family, and he's just survived one of the world’s most devastating earthquakes.

In this episode of Business Daily Ed Butler hears Abdullah's story.

Abdullah works at the Harakat Tarhin oil refinery outside Al Bab in north-west Syria. It's a makeshift oil refinery and they make fuel to feed the cars, trucks and heaters on which the region depends.

Oil is usually refined in massive industrial buildings, run by multi-national firms, but where Abdullah works it’s cooked in the back yard. He tells us he knows how dangerous his job is but that he has no choice and must carry on working.

Presenter / producer: Ed Butler Image: Abdullah; Credit: BBC

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, Namulanta Combo here and I'm excited to tell you that my award-winning podcast, Dear Daughter, is back for a second season and it's available now.
0:11.2	Find out more at the end of this podcast.
0:15.4	Hi there, I'm Ed Butler. You're listening to Business Daily here on the BBC World Service.
0:20.8	Today, the second of our programs, looking at northwest Syria one month after the devastating earthquake.
0:27.9	We're focusing on the story of a boy, a child labourer trapped by dead.
0:35.2	Our family is big, consisting of 14 people.
0:39.6	I am the only one working.
0:41.9	Our family's debt are very large, thousands of dollars.
0:45.2	What else can I do?
0:46.7	I have no choice but to carry on.
0:49.1	Child labour in the shadow of the earthquake.
0:52.4	And a warning for listeners,
0:54.0	some of you may find the accounts in this program distressing.
1:02.9	This is Hadakat Tahin refinery, outside al-Bab in northwest Syria.
1:08.5	They make fuel here, fuel to feed the cars, the trucks,
1:12.8	the heaters on which the region depends.
1:15.6	Men circulate wheeling heavy oil drums.
1:18.8	The air is thick with a choking stench of burning fumes.
1:23.0	Sitting in the foreground, a shaggy-haired, soft-featured boy,
1:27.2	a shy smile on his face.
1:29.2	He's 14 years old.
1:36.5	My name is Abdullah al-Shayban.
	...

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