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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsSlave in China, Yet to Get Paid in Dubai
Story that developed from a note found in a bag holding an item bought at Saks Fifth Avenue:
AN S.O.S. IN A SAKS BAG
In September, 2012, Stephanie Wilson, a twenty-eight-year-old Australian who lives in West Harlem, bought a pair of Hunter rain boots from Saks Fifth Avenue. She was digging for her receipt in the paper shopping bag when she discovered a letter inside that, in its urgency, started higher than the ruled papers printed lines. HELP! HELP! HELP!! a man had written, in blue ink on white paper. He opened, Hello!! I'm Njong Emmanuel Tohnain, Cameroonian of nationality.
The writer explained that he had made the bag while captive in a Chinese prison factory, where he was being held after an arrest on accusations of fraud. He wrote, Ive been molested and tortured physically, morally, psychologically and spiritually for all the while without any given chance to contact my family and friends. We are ill-treated and work like slaves for 13 hours every day producing these bags in bulk in the prison factory. Please help to contact the United Nations Human Rights Department or if possible Samuel Etoo and let them know my sad story. Im Etoos fan club manager in the University. He signed off, politely, Thanks and sorry to bother you.
...
Njong told me that he was discharged from prison last December, escorted to Beijing, and put on a plane to Cameroon. He got a two-month tourist visa to go to the United Arab Emiratesrenewable onceafter borrowing five thousand dollars from a cousin. Over the phone, I asked Njong why he didnt stay in Cameroon after his return from China. He explained that he left in the first place because of his home countrys swelling corruption. Dubai was the place I could obtain a visa as fast as possible, he said.
Njong found work at a cleaning company in Abu Dhabi. We get up so early, four oclock, he told me. The company acts like brokers: they get workers and send us to locations. My location is a veterinary hospital. We go in the morning and we cleanthe animal waste.
He doesnt talk often with his family. Making calls from here is expensive, he said. And Im still waiting for my first salary. I never want to tell them when things are rough. Im just struggling with my life to see that anything good can come from life.
I asked about whether he might be compensated for his troubles. Doesnt China owe him? Dont any of the others along the supply chain that brought the bag into Stephanie Wilsons hands? I dont think the hours are worth it, seeking compensation, he said. Its not easy. Its not something anybody can just do.
The writer explained that he had made the bag while captive in a Chinese prison factory, where he was being held after an arrest on accusations of fraud. He wrote, Ive been molested and tortured physically, morally, psychologically and spiritually for all the while without any given chance to contact my family and friends. We are ill-treated and work like slaves for 13 hours every day producing these bags in bulk in the prison factory. Please help to contact the United Nations Human Rights Department or if possible Samuel Etoo and let them know my sad story. Im Etoos fan club manager in the University. He signed off, politely, Thanks and sorry to bother you.
...
Njong told me that he was discharged from prison last December, escorted to Beijing, and put on a plane to Cameroon. He got a two-month tourist visa to go to the United Arab Emiratesrenewable onceafter borrowing five thousand dollars from a cousin. Over the phone, I asked Njong why he didnt stay in Cameroon after his return from China. He explained that he left in the first place because of his home countrys swelling corruption. Dubai was the place I could obtain a visa as fast as possible, he said.
Njong found work at a cleaning company in Abu Dhabi. We get up so early, four oclock, he told me. The company acts like brokers: they get workers and send us to locations. My location is a veterinary hospital. We go in the morning and we cleanthe animal waste.
He doesnt talk often with his family. Making calls from here is expensive, he said. And Im still waiting for my first salary. I never want to tell them when things are rough. Im just struggling with my life to see that anything good can come from life.
I asked about whether he might be compensated for his troubles. Doesnt China owe him? Dont any of the others along the supply chain that brought the bag into Stephanie Wilsons hands? I dont think the hours are worth it, seeking compensation, he said. Its not easy. Its not something anybody can just do.
Five gets you ten he doesn't get paid from that job in Dubai. As for China? Come on...
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