“I’m not happy that I’m working here while my friends are in school,” says 12-year-old Adama as she looks around the quarry in the Gombu community of Kenema, southeastern Sierra Leone. Adama works alongside her parents, and each day is faced with the arduous task of breaking up large rocks into gravel that is then sold to construction contractors, as written on the UNICEF website.

Adama is one of nearly 138 million children worldwide who are engaged in child labour, with more than a third of those children involved in hazardous work that is likely to jeopardize their health, safety, or development.

Most often, child labour occurs when families face financial challenges or uncertainty – whether due to poverty, sudden illness of a caregiver, or job loss of a primary wage earner. Whatever the reason children are subjected to child labour, the consequences are staggering – it can result in sexual or economic exploitation, extreme bodily and mental harm, and even death. In nearly every case, it cuts children off from schooling and health care, restricting their fundamental rights.

Adama has been working at the quarry for five years, hoping to save up enough money to go back to school. She wants to be a teacher one day. But for now, her busy days start even before it’s time to head to the quarry.

“In the morning, I sweep, I wash the dishes, I clean the rooms and then follow my dad and my mom to the quarry to earn a living,” she says, although the family’s combined income working there is about $2 a day – barely enough to pay for a single meal.

The prevalence of child labour has fallen in sub-Saharan Africa over the past five years, although the total number has remained stagnant against the backdrop of population growth, ongoing and emerging conflicts, and stretched social protection systems.

Almost 1 in 5 children in Sierra Leone are engaged in child labour. Child labour compromises children’s education, limiting future opportunities and perpetuating an inter-generational cycle of deprivation.

MNA/