Quarry workers in Yaounde can be permanently found at the Warda cross-roads. Building up a sweat, they chip away at large rocks or lumps of calcium to transform into gravel for use in the construction industry. Among these workers, you also find young boys such as Aziz, who is just 15 years old.

By Anne Mireille Nzouankeu

Sat on the ground, Aziz taps away at the large stones with the aid of a hammer. It is hot this 10 April and large beads of sweat form on his forehead. With every swing of the hammer, his face looks tense from the effort.

Aziz says he’s been working in the quarry for 16 months. He works between 9 and 11 hours a day, using his bare hands. As a result of this activity, he has badly swollen and cracked hands. The stones are sharp and he has nothing to protect himself. He is dressed in rags and has numerous scars on his hands and feet.

“I’m regularly injured by stone chippings. Sometimes, I accidentally hit my fingers with the hammer,” he explains. An umbrella was put up in his workplace. This is where he takes shelter from time to time - when he can no longer stand the heat of the sun.

Aziz doesn’t have spare time outside work. "When I return home, I am so tired that I go straight to sleep”, he explains. It is therefore at work where he washes his clothes while the others stop to eat.

A poor salary
The gravel is sold by the wheelbarrow, which is the equivalent of a 30 litre bucket. Aziz has to work four hours to fill one barrow, which is then sold for 1,52 euros and more. However, he only receives 0,6 euros of this per barrow of gravel sold. The remaining earnings go directly to his employer.

Aziz never went to school. He left the village where he was born, in the extreme north of the country, to find work in the capital with someone from the same village. His employer, who wishes to remain anonymous, also offers him accommodation and one meal a day. Aziz sends the majority of his earnings to his parents, to go towards family costs.

When I asked the employer why Aziz doesn’t go to school like his own children, he responded: “Aziz doesn’t know how to read or write. He can no longer go to primary school at 15 years old. It is better for him to work.” As for the money that Aziz receives, his employer explains that it is not a salary as such: “It is just a bit of help that a father would give to his son,” he says.

For sociologist, Valentin Melingui, cases like this are nothing other than exploitation. Normally, machines are used to crush these types of stone but employers prefer to use child labour. “Young people are a cheap work force, easy to manipulate and less demanding,” analyses the sociologist.

The rights of children
Breaking stone all day is a job that demands a great deal of physical maturity and should be carried out by adults.

According to a UN convention governing the rights of children “a child is classified as a person younger than eighteen years old”. Article 32 of this convention stipulates that a child has the right to be “protected against economic exploitation and should not be forced into any job poses health risks or compromises their right to education.”

Aziz’s employer gets worked up when we talk about exploitation. He claims to be Aziz’s saviour. “If I don’t employ him, he will certainly become a thug,” he says.