Reynaldo's Story

Reynaldo is a 15-year-old miner who began panning for gold at age 5 in a village in the Philippines called Malaya. When he found gold as a young boy, his family believed he was a gifted miner. After his father died, Reynaldo became his family’s main provider. “Sometimes I’m really afraid when I go down there because I may get hit with falling rocks,” he said. He goes down the mine at 6 a.m. and stays there until 6 p.m., coming up only for lunch.

Child labor stems from poverty, and much of the Philippines is extremely poor. Mining by children is part of daily life. Children don’t have the sense that they have a right to go to school and to have a better life. But they’re extremely aware of the immediate need to earn enough for rice for themselves and their siblings.