Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
I left school to look for plastic waste that I can sell
and make money from.
I work hard, collecting plastic waste all day.
I go from one street to another, looking for waste.
Mohammed Abu Qas, 14 years old, looks every day
for plastic waste. He walks through Gaza's streets, searching
all the blocks, collecting 3-4 kg of plastic waste daily.
At the end of the day, he sells them to his brother,
who works in a special shop that
buys the plastic materials for 5 Israeli shekels (U.S.$1.34).
With God's help, I opened the shop to buy the plastic waste from the kids.
There is no money. There is no money to give the kids.
You will find them getting up to work at 5 or 6 in the morning,
looking and searching on every street for plastic waste.
They bring the waste to me, and I buy it from them.
How much do they make per day?
Each boy earns 10 or 5 shekels, sometimes 3 or 2 shekels.
I managed to get a job at his shop. He paid me 5 shekels.
I work. I save money. When my dad needs money, I give it to him.
I make 300 shekels (U.S. $80) per week.
Mohammed lives with his family in a country house.
His family consists of 14 members, all of them married except him.
Despite his youth, he has given up his childhood and his friends.
He left them to help his parents with the household expenses
and to pay the rent. His father is unemployed
and his mother is blind.
Everyone asked me to stay in school.
I refused.
I decided to drop out.
Some members of my family knew I had left school, and some didn't.
They offered to buy books and anything else I wanted just to keep me
in school until eighth grade, and after that they would transfer me
to an industrial school. I told them I couldn't even finish sixth grade.
I couldn't.
Mohammed withdrew from school three years ago, leaving his friends behind.
He left his education to get involved in the labor market, doing adult work.
While other students go to school early in the morning,
Mohammed starts his hard work collecting plastic waste.
Knowing he has to do this, because of the cruelty he says he faced
at school from his teachers.
I was tired of the numerous beatings from my teachers.
I was a good student and I did my homework,
but they continued to beat me and other students.
Although I did not make a mess in class, still they beat me.
For that, I hated school. I was tired of sitting in a chair all day long.
I wasn't happy, so I left school.
I love to study and do my homework,
but not in the way the teacher gave us work.
I like to do my work whenever I feel like it.
The rise in unemployment among Palestinians
and the destabilization of the local economy has worsened
since Israel imposed a strict siege on the Gaza Strip in 2007.
Despite that, the Palestinians find ways to start simple businesses
and earn livings, such as opening a small shop
to collect plastic materials to send to a bigger factory for recycling.
We sell the plastic to owners of factories where it can be used.
After recycling it is used for things such as trays, hangers, and so on.
The plastic waste collected by the children is being sent to a small
local factory in the Gaza Strip. After the recycling it will become
a locally made Palestinian product, sold in the local Palestinian markets.
But the cost of all that hard work is the physical and mental health
of the children, who were brought to this by the siege and poverty.
I am not happy with this job. I work all day long. I have backaches,
pain throughout my body, my hands get wounded all the time
and I have to scrub them very hard.
Do you have any health problems?
I do have backache and pain throughout my body.
I hope my life changes for the better.
I wish I had a different job. I want to become a different person,
a better looking guy. I love to buy clothes.
I love to dress up and look handsome.