CONGO’S EXPLOPITED COBALT MINERS!

Cobalt is a rare mineral used in the production of almost all lithium ion rechargeable batteries that powers your smartphone, laptops and electric vehicles. But did you know that 70% of the world’s cobalt is produced in the Congo? And did you know that this noble metal is mined at dangerous, even life-threatening costs?

In this video, you’ll see how cobalt is mined off the backs of thousands of mainly Congolese children and in a country where most people earn less than a dollar a day. The toxic mines have kept kids from attending school, labouring instead in slave-like conditions and in abject poverty. Packed like sardines in these mines, their plight sometimes goes forgotten as they work in grinding and degrading conditions. Pickaxes and shovels are used to hack and scrounge at the earth in trenches, pits and tunnels to gather cobalt to produce tiny, shiny, and fashionable electronic devices the world over. Driven by poverty, many children have forgone their primary studies to toil in these tunnels that, on occasion, have collapsed causing disfigured limbs in some cases and deaths in others.

May this video serve as a reminder to call out those that exploit Africans, its resources and economies. A reminder to speak out against the decades of exploitation that plague African states much like the Congo.