A Bill That Can Kill

Bills. Wow, even the name sounds scary, perhaps because it rhymes with kills? I personally don't have to deal with those "tormenting papers", phew! Although at some point we all will. Unfortunatley, some have it harder than others. Most labourer's wages, to my knowledge, aren't that high. So you can imagine how hard it must be to raise a family with a minimum wage. The average amount of years of schooling adults in Tanzania, 2.7. (Nation Master, 2012) I would guess that getting into labor work would not require much of a past related to education, hence making the job employment easily accessible. It would be interesting to know how laborers get their personal expenses paid, having paid a minimum wage. I am thinking of making a chart, to see how everything works out. This would not only help me understand the laborers economic situation, but the value of money. This could teach me a few things, for example how hard it is to pay bills, earn a living, not only for yourself, but also for a family. Looking forward to it!

The Labour Office

I talked to my dad about getting an interview in the Labour office, since he knows a few people their. So hopefully I can set up an interview soon! If I actually got an interview it would not only be a really effective primary source but actually super interesting! It would be interesting to get to know the criteria's that are made to fit each job. Also how they make sure each law is "fair" for the employer and employee. Fingers crossed!

The Labourers Speak

Hey everyone!

So I finally did my two of my interviews!! I recorded it on video, and will post it in a few days. It might take a bit of time because I have to edit the movies (not exactly easy due to my movie maker skills) It was interesting to view labour from their perspective, and be more involved in the Tanzanian local community. I learnt to apply many skills that I had from before such as my communication skills, and also to gain a few others like being more open-minded about other people's views. It was a great experience, and I would love to share it with you! Hopefully I might even be able to post the videos on Youtube. Hope you enjoy it!

Labour Pictures around Arusha!

Hey everyone!

Sorry, I had a few technical issues with the photos, but I finally fixed it! So here are the rest of the photo's:

This is a man on the streets, he is moving around with his kokoteni (wooden wheelbarrow) to sell goods.

This is some construction going on for a building that is for commercial purposes

These pictures are about construction that is going on for a bridge repair.

This is some construction work on an extension of a building, and also repairing the roof.

Some of the materials that were used...

Hope you guys like the pictures, there's definitely more to come!

PICTURES!!

I've already taken most of my pictures, and hopefully i can upload them in around 2 days. 

Here's a little sneak peak:

Labour association with poverty

A few days ago, I was out taking pictures all around Arusha. Over here, sometimes we face quite a few  road problems, so going home, the road we usually take was closed down due to construction purposes. So we decided to take a short cut that passes a, well you could say mini village, a dusty, small, crowded place. Driving through this so-called village, I saw many "labourer's" transporting goods in their kokotenis (A wooden wheelbarrow) and realized something.
What jobs can be labelled as "labour work", in other words who are labourer's. So I though of the obvious workers, such as builders, cleaners, farmers etc.. I thought a little bit about their income, and obviously no labourer gets paid the wage of a doctor, or a celebrity for that matter.Now this may not be in all cases, but do most labour workers have a low income? I found this quite interesting because personally, I would say labour work is physically more difficult than other jobs, and yet, it is still paid with a low income.
Here are some of the salaries for labour workers who work for US brand names (dollars)

• Bangladesh (2004) Mary Kate & Ashley 0.18 p/hr.
• Burma (2004) NBA .14 p/hr.
• China (2004) NFL/NBA/MLB 0.165 p/hr.
• China (1997) Nike 1.75 p/hr.
• Costa Rica (1998) Rawlings Baseball 1.15 p/hr.
• El Salvador (2001) Gap o.55 p/hr.
• Haiti (1996) Disney0 .28 p/hr.
• Honduras (1996) Levis & Nike 5.40 p/day
• Honduras (1996) Wal-Mart/Kathie Lee .31 p/hr.
• Indonesia (2002) Nike 2.46/p day
• Vietnam (2004) NBA 0.15 p/hr.
• Vietnam (1997) Nike 1.60 p/day

(Marcy, n.d.)

Picture Perfect

I've taken a few pictures of some of the different types of labor in Arusha. I plan to upload these pictures in a few days time... This was actually an eye opening experience because growing up in an area where there is a continuous scene of construction a few meters away, or seeing people cleaning the street with a broom, while driving to school or work, I started becoming aware of what was going on in our environment and understanding that I've always taken labor work for granted. Seeing cleaner's clean classrooms at our school became a daily thing for me, especially since I've been in that school 12 years. Like many other people who are lucky enough to have a great education, I never really appreciated the fact that everyday, I have a clean classroom to be able to learn in because there are people who's job is to clean up after us. So this was a great experience, and hopefully the pictures inspire, or help you to learn more about labor in Tanzania.