Trains - Child Labor Photographer G.M.B Akash Explores Bangladesh's Railway System

I am happy to present, Trains - Nothing To Hold On To, another stunning piece by master photojournalist and close friend, G.M.B Akash.  If you are interested in publishing or licensing these photographs, please contact Akash directly through his website www.gmb-akash.com

View some of Akash's other incredible stories here:

Child Labor

Ship Breaking in Pakistan

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Words from Akash:

Nearly three thousand kilometers of railroad tracks crisscross the delta lowlands of Bangladesh, connecting the capital, Dhaka, with Chittagong to the southeast and Calcutta to the southwest.  The system was built largely by the British and began operations in 1862, more than a hundred years before Bangladesh became an independent nation. Bangladeshi rolling stock now carries more than forty million passengers a year in three ticketed classes: air-conditioned, first, and second—and then there are the passengers who can’t pay. These riders, many of them daily commuters going to and from work, cling to handles, crouch in doorways, perch on the couplings between cars, and climb onto the roof. 

I live in Dhaka and began riding the rails with my camera in 2006. I wanted to draw attention to the danger the stowaways expose themselves to; gruesome accidents are routine for free riders. There is nothing to hold on to and it is very difficult to keep your footing. On a recent ride, I spoke to Majed Miya, a carpenter who has traveled on the roof for two decades. Miya said he enjoys riding on the roof: “no one really disturbs me there, except the fear of death.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

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[Shanley Knox]

I love the way that this piece highlights one part of a larger crisis. Akash's work inspired me to look further into child labor in Bangladesh, and I was struck by the commonality between the issues in Bangladesh, and that of children in Uganda, where I did some work this summer. It's the continual cycle of poverty that strikes me in both situations - the lack of education because of the lack of money, and then the lack of opportunity because of the lack of education. When I left, a Ugandan friend of mine gave me a comic depicting the way that impoverished children are kept from government sponsorships, because of their low scores in gradeschool, while the rich are rewarded for their grades by being sent to the country's best universities. There was a plank running from the homes of rich children onto a boat carrying them to success, while the poor were left staring, hopelessly.

It was the intricacies of their problems that struck me, and Akash's work reveals the same about Bangladesh. Beyond the factories and the struggle of 4.9 million children UNICEF says are forced into child labor - there is the transportation issue. It struck me, in Uganda that transportation was one of the largest issues for people. Not just transportation to work, but transportation to get ARVS, transportation to get to family...transportation to get anywhere. The risks that people are willing to take are massive, simply because they have to.

I visited Akash's earlier work that was highlighted on your blog, and appreciated the way he talked about the complexities involved in child labor, and the struggle that creates it. It resonated with me, in particular, when he said that his, "intention is not only to show the children at work as victims of bad bosses exploiting them, but I want to show the complexity of the situation: The parents who send their little boy to work in a factory because they are poor; the child who has to work to earn a living for the family; theboss of the factory who is being pushed by big garment companies to produce for less money; and the Western consumers as clients who buy cheap clothes."

I am curious about your thoughts on the situation in Bangladesh - in Uganda, I felt like the situation was more complicated than I had ever realized, before. Children that were forced into labor because of sick mothers that were bed-ridden. If the children didn't work, the family didn't eat. It seemed to me that the issues ran a lot deeper than just "stopping child labor." They were issues of absent fathers, desperate poverty and, of course, AIDS. I couldn't imagine what the families would have done if the children didn't work - what is the solution to something like this?

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