Module 6

Why Human Dignity gets crushed:

The Four Failures

1 Failure to see … In the West we are

surrounded by nice images We’re not encouraged to ‘look

beyond’ them Behind the packaging there is

plenty of human suffering and injustice

Tea picking is a long hard slog in the heat and humidity of a day

The least we could do is ensure that a hard day’s work is rewarded with a fair day’s pay

But this is often not the case with big brand tea and coffee companies

A day in the life of a tea picker"Our biggest problem is that we have too much to do. In the morning we prepare meals and get the children to school. We have no time even to eat. I have to work very fast, so I get very hungry. We have to carry 10-15 kilos of tea to the weighing place, which can be three quarters of a kilometre away. After work it is the same - we have to do all the cooking and collecting firewood and getting water. We eat rice and one vegetable. We would like to have two or three vegetables but we cannot afford it. Towards the end of every month we find it difficult."

Sivapackiam has been picking tea on the same tea estate for 23 years. Her mother and grandmother did the same job before her, and it's a hard life. She takes home the equivalent of 80 pence a day.

Failure to see … We see the same

situation with big brand clothing and sports retailers …

One of the most notorious examples is the Gap Clothing Company

It has a range called ‘Gapkids’

But actually the real ‘Gap kids’ are the ones in sweat shops that make the clothing for a pittance …

So that western kids can buy them at a huge mark-up

Other Examples …

“When (people) eat chocolate, they are eating my flesh.”

Some Facts …

2 Failure to see a human

Stalin & the Soviet Union

Pol Pot & Cambodia

Mao & China

3 Failure to see a human in need'Bullied' teenager killed himself

Mam, I'm sorry I have done this, I'm not a nice person. I'm sorry I didn't live up to your expectations.        

32 elderly people a day die alone at home.

Loneliness 'problem for the old'

4 Failure to see a brother or sister in need