A quarter million children are put to work on carpet looms in India and Nepal. This project is devoted to replacing the tools in their hands with books. Beyond the immediate care and education of individual victims, GoodWeave also addresses the root causes by educating consumers, partnering with importers, and certifying rugs as child-labor-free -- taking away the profitability and invisibility of child labor.
In India and Nepal, children aged 4 to 14 are kidnapped or sold into slavery and forced to work up to 18 hours a day, weaving rugs for North American markets. They earn little or no money. They suffer malnutrition, wounds from using sharp tools, respiratory diseases from breathing wool fibers, and deformities from sitting long hours, some chained to their loom. Away from home, they don't get to enjoy childhood and can't go to school.
GoodWeave rescues these exploited child weavers. We rehabilitate them, giving them the care they need to recover physically and emotionally. The children are reunited with their families if possible and offered an education. GoodWeave is also stopping the cycle of child labor and poverty, so fewer kids are trafficked or enslaved. We do this by educating consumers in North America, working with importers to monitor their weaving factories, and certifying carpets made by adult artisans.
GoodWeave believes that if enough people decide to buy one rug over another because it was made without child labor, then retailers and importers will demand only child-labor-free rugs from their manufacturers. The exciting news is it's working already! In just over a decade since GoodWeave started, the number of "carpet kids" has dropped dramatically - from 1 million to 250,000. With your help and with this project, the number can reach zero.
