Some even begin to believe that they are gods. Algunos incluso comienzan a creerse que son dioses

Social and economic distance of the tea workers with their Bengali supervisors including the managers is much wider. Francis Rolt, a British writer, gives a vivid description of the severe discriminatory conduct of the hierarchy towards the tea workers: “the tea gardens are managed as an extreme hierarchy: the managers live like gods, distant, unapproachable, and incomprehensible. Some even begin to believe that they are gods, that they can do exactly what they like.” “Managers have anything up to a dozen laborers as their personal, domestic servants. They are made to tie the managers shoe lace, to remind them that they are under managerial control and that they are bound to do whatever they are asked,” writes another British human rights activist, Dan Jones.

Taken from the blog http://rasheeka.wordpress.com/

La distancia social y económica entre los trabajadores del té y sus supervisores bengalíes, incluidos los managers, es enorme. Francis Bolt, escritor británico, nos da una vívida descripción de la discriminatoria conducta de la jerarquía con respecto a sus obreros: “El sentido de la jerarquía es extremo en las plantaciones de té, los managers viven como dioses, distantes, inabordables e incomprensibles. Algunos incluso comienzan a creerse que son dioses, que pueden hacer exactamente lo que les venga en gana”. “Los managers tienen algo así como una docena de trabajadores a su servicio personal, servidores domésticos. Se les obliga a atar los cordones de los zapatos del manager para recordarles que están bajo su control y que deben hacer cualquier cosa que se les pida”, escribe Dan Jones, otro británico activista de los derechos humanos.

Tomado del blog http://rasheeka.wordpress.com/

The Marist Brothers want to do something to bring this people out of their plight

Beautiful Tea plants

Last week I visited along with other people the tea plantations that the Finlay Company owns at Srimongol, northeast of Bangladesh. There I have seen that in the 21st century slavery (or semi-slavery) still exists in the world. Workers in the tea plantations, working 8 hours a day, receive a salary of 48 takas (less than 50 cents of Euro a day). They live in houses (houses?) belonging to the company. They have the right to live in these houses while they work on the plantations, otherwise they are expelled. It is allowed only one person per family to work in the plantations, implying that the 48 takas are the daily family wage, not the person wage. We can easily understand that it is impossible to save any money, so that they cannot leave and go to another place; people in the tea gardens stay chained to the Company for ever. If a worker dies, another member of the family may take place; there have been cases of children who were studying at secondary school, for whom a better future seemed to be open, which have had to drop out of school because their father or mother died and had to replace them on the plantation, else the family would be expelled.

All I say of Finlay Company applies for all other companies having tea plantations in Bangladesh. It is a shame; I'm outraged. The Marist Brothers want to do something to bring this people out of their plight and are going to build a secondary school for their sons and daughters. It will be a long, difficult and expensive process, but we will try. They are the poorest of the poor in Bangladesh and it is worth it, with the help of God.

Tea Gardens in Bangladesh, a case of modern slavery

“Their poor housing conditions, low wages, long working hours, social discrimination, and de facto restriction on free movement deprive them of many basic human needs and rights that every human being must have for personal and societal progress. These conditions make sure that the children of tea workers can do nothing else but become tea workers. Deprived, exploited and alienated the tea workers live an inhumane life”