Better working conditions help us to fight child labour

I am the son of cocoa farmers and I have always worked on a plantation in Côte d'Ivoire. Like many planters, I wanted to help fight child labour in our community. Through training, I discovered how improving safety and health at work is important to this combat.

My name is Yabao Oumarou and I am 46 years old. I am married and have six children.  I am part of a farming cooperative in Bagoliéoua, in the Nawa region of Côte d'Ivoire. I grew up here and I am the son of a planter. Here, we're all planters.

One day, the cooperative told me that I had been chosen to go to Soubré for WIND training with the International Labour Organization (ILO).

Until then, I had worked like all cocoa farmers, doing the same jobs that our parents did before us. We worked without being concerned about our health and safety. That was how things were before.

My motivation to do the training was to help combat child labour. There have been several awareness campaigns about child labour in our cooperative, so it is an important topic for all the planters. 

But the training was a real discovery for me. We didn't just learn about child protection. We also learnt about health and safety and providing access to facilities for well-being.

We saw that there were things we shouldn't be doing at work and things that we needed to improve.

Above all, the training changed my perception of child labour.  

I came to understand that if you don't take care of your health, then you won't be able to work. And if you aren't able do your job properly, then you'll become a burden, either to your wife or to your children.

After the training was over, it was time to put into practice what we had learned. 

When I arrived in the village, I first covered my well, which was open. I also made a fence for it as well because animals often fell into it. I made the fence with local products, and I didn't pay anything. We made do with what we had. We didn't know that we could do that.

I also installed a pulley for the well. We used to collect water directly with a container. Now, it's easy to draw water, without getting tired or taking risks.

Before the WIND training, I used to work at the plantation until I was so tired that I would have to come back to the village because of the fatigue.

Now, I have created a rest area in the field with seats with backrests. When I'm working and I feel tired, I go into the shade at the rest area. After, I can start to work again, and I return home without being exhausted.

We didn't used to worry about our health. We just worked and got sick. Now, there is a real change. There is less fatigue, and we don't get sick like we used to.

The day before yesterday, a rainstorm started as we reached the field. Before we had the shelter, we would have needed to return to the village and lost a day's work. Instead, this time, we stayed under the shelter until the rain stopped and then we worked.

The training has awakened my health and safety conscience.

I saw that you must think about your health and your family's health before you take on a job. Now I think to myself: "I want to do this. But what will that bring me? Will that make me sick? ". Previously, we didn't worry about that.

If you can do your job properly, with less fatigue, then you won't have a child labour problem, because you won't need to bring the children into the job.

Now, we care about our own health and safety, and this makes it easy to send children to school. We can give our children the opportunity to thrive.

If everyone did this kind of training, life would be easy. We would be able to do our work easily, safely and without being exhausted. We would have more time and good incomes.

After this training, I can see that there have been many changes.

We are raising awareness that children have rights. The child's place is at school. You should not burden an innocent child with your responsibilities.

Now, the community can see that health and safety is important. At first, some people hated what we were doing. But since then, many come to see the improvements that I have made and copied them at home. Others come to me for information.

Together, we exchange experiences.

I'm going to continue making improvements.  I have created a small fish pool and I'm also going to cultivate tomatoes and okra. Honestly, I have a lot to do. There are many changes to come.

I expect I'll have a good income after all these improvements. My living conditions will be more comfortable.

Before, we didn't even have the idea of diversification. Now, I have sheep. First, it was one, then two and now three.

I can see that it's going to work. It's going to be fine.