Bridges need work
Dear Public Works Department: I see we are going to spend $18 million to upgrade the one-lane bridge on Kilauea Avenue. Sounds good and also expensive to work on bridges.
This brings up the Old Mamalahoa Highway bridges starting at Puueo … and on up the coast to Hamakua and beyond. Many, many of these bridges have poor drainage, if any, and poor top coatings. All these bridges would last possibly forever if actually maintained.
Would it not be dollar-wise and penny-foolish to continue this way? And I am not even talking about the roadways themselves, just the bridges. The old highway could be turned into a world-famous bikeway/roadway. A diamond in the mud.
Phil Swarz
Papaikou
Child labor
I have been studying the United Nations Global Goals, and the goal that affected me the most was the Decent Work and Economics goal — more specifically, modern slavery and child labor. I did more research and found out that 40 million people are estimated to be trapped in modern slavery and that there are approximately 218 million child laborers worldwide.
This really called out to me because I think people should hear more about this. Modern slaves don’t deserve to be trapped and mistreated. Children should be able to grow up without needing to work for people at a young age.
Out of the 40 million modern slaves, one in four are children, and 71% are women and girls. Most people trapped in modern slavery are in poverty. After doing more research, I found a list of the top six countries with the most modern slavery. India is No. 1 with 18.4 million, next is China (3.4 million), followed by Pakistan (2.1 million), Bangladesh (1.5 million), Uzbekistan (1.2 million) and, finally, North Korea (1.1 million).
Out of the 218 million child laborers, about one in 10 children are affected, one in three are out of school, and about 22,000 are killed each year. I also found out that boys are more likely to work than girls. I find it a little upsetting that the children aren’t able to have a normal childhood because they are having to work.
Some teens in Hawaii always complain about how they can’t use their phones in school or how they don’t want to do chores. What they don’t realize is that kids around the world don’t even have a choice when it comes to having to do “chores.” They are forced to work way more dangerous jobs like mining, fireworks manufacturing, dumpsites, etc.
Think about it: Lots of kids and teens around the world are forced to do things they don’t want to do, while others complain about not being able to go to a party.
There are some organizations that try to help alleviate this problem that impacts so many people and, in particular, children. If you are interested in contributing to some of these organizations, you can go to: Anti-Slavery International, Hope for Justice, Child Labor Coalition or Love 146.
Lilia Kaupu
Keaau Middle School student
