Forced to Work

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INDOOR OLYMPICS

This is a series of activities where people are asked to complete tasks in a short time limit. They have 30 seconds to do the highest number of: eating cream crackers, throwing and catching eggs between a pair over a long distance, books held with arms outstretched (no bent elbows), balloons blown up, Articulate cards or charades completed.

INTRODUCTION

This week we’re going to look at one of the spaces that people are trafficked into: forced labour. People are forced to work in factories that produce the clothes we wear, the chocolate we eat, gadgets we use and orange juice we drink. They are forced to work in terrible conditions; overwhelming heat, unsafe buildings and cramped workspaces, with high targets for production each day. These people are forced to work in these environments for long hours with very little, or sometimes no pay.

ACTIVITY

This game shows how raw materials are turned into consumer goods, how those goods are marketed to make consumers want more, and what happens to the goods in the end. You’ll need signs with each of these headings: ‘Extraction’, ‘Production’, ‘Distribution’, ‘Consumption’, ‘Advertising’ and a box or bin labeled ‘Disposal’. Give members of your group the following roles:

One extractor who represents the people who take materials out of the ground ready to be turned into products. Give this person six pieces of red paper.
One production person who will turn the raw materials into a sellable product
One distributor who represents the middle- man between the producers and the consumers who buy the product.
One advertiser who tells the consumer about the product and why they need it.
One consumer who considers which product to buy and when to replace it.
Other countries (the rest of the group), who have additional materials needed to supply consumer demand. Give this group 12 pieces of blue paper.

Once everyone has their role, give the following instructions to the group in secret. Ask the extractor to give one piece of red paper to the producer. Ask the producer to use it to make a paper plane and to give it to the distributor. Ask the distributor to write 50p on one side of the plane and to fly it over to the consumer. Pause to reflect on the number of stages already required in this process – it is unlikely those involved would have been paid fairly if the sale was only 50p. As the consumer holds and plays with the plane, ask the advertiser to say: ‘That red aeroplane looks a bit rubbish now. It doesn’t go with your outfit. You don’t want a red aeroplane, what you want is a blue one. You should throw that red one away and get a better one.’ The consumer can throw the aeroplane away at the disposal box.

The producer now needs to make a blue aeroplane but only has red paper. They must beg, borrow or steal from other countries to meet the demand. The advertiser then tells them they are not making the aeroplanes quickly enough. There is a ‘buy one, get one free’ offer on, meaning the aeroplanes now cost just 25p to buy. The producer must recruit someone from the group to help make more aeroplanes in less time. Meanwhile the consumer can throw the aeroplanes at the disposal box as they become bored with them, causing a pile of rubbish to build up next to that box.

Throughout the activity, the advertiser continues to persuade the consumer that they need more aeroplanes, different aeroplanes and better aeroplanes. The demands on extraction, production and disposal increase - more aeroplanes are needed, quicker and cheaper. Once all the paper has been used up and everyone is exhausted the activity is over!

VIDEO AND DISCUSSION (OPTIONAL)

Show ‘The Story of Stuff’ video from the links section of the website (www.youthwork.co.uk). Once you’ve watched the video, ask the group to discuss these questions: How does this product chain make you feel? How did you feel about the people being forced to work? How did you feel about the people asking for more and more planes? Do you think this is reflective of real life?

READ AND DISCUSS

Read James 5:1-6 as a group and then discuss these questions: What does this have to say about paying people a fair wage? This letter was written nearly 2,000 years ago, Do we still face the same issues today? From this passage, what responsibility do we have to people trafficked into forced labour? Check your clothes, bags, trainers and snacks to find out where they were made and write it onto post-it notes. Group the post-it notes by continent and reflect on how much of the world we rely on for our food and clothes. The question is: how are the people represented by these post-its treated?

RESPONSE

There are many ways for us to respond, and many ways to live so that we don’t encourage forced labour. We can buy Fairtrade products, eat locally produced food, mend clothes instead of buying more etc. We can also speak up to companies producing our clothes. Consumer power is significant and we can influence companies’ decisions. The ‘Don’t sweat it’ campaign is a project helping us write to our favourite clothes shop and asking them how they treat their employees in every part of their production line. Invite each young person to pick their favourite clothes shop and join in the campaign. You can do it online at rhythms.org/DontSweatIt or download the paper petition and post it back.

PRAYER

Read the introduction and then pray: Lord, make us people who respond to your world in whatever way we can. Help us to be good neighbours to people all over the world who make our clothes and food and technology. We pray for those who are forced to work in terrible conditions and treated badly. Help us take daily actions about where we shop and what we buy so that we contribute to a world where people are not trafficked and forced into labour. Give us a passion to see the world become a better place and take everyday action to become more like you. Amen.