Anyone who has the chance to work in one of the large mines in southern Africa has promising prospects of good earnings and a better standard of living. This idea also entices many young people to leave their homes and seek their fortune in the mining regions. All too often, however, their hopes are not fulfilled. This is shown by a study on the migration of young people in the mining regions of Tanzania.
Raw materials mining is booming worldwide. The hope of earning good money in the large gold and diamond mines of the international multinationals attracts many young people to the mining regions. This is also the case in Tanzania, where terre des hommes schweiz and its partner organizations are active. The mines there attract young people from poorer areas of the country. This has far-reaching effects on the young people and the mining region. In order to better understand which ones, terre des hommes schweiz commissioned a study on the topic of migration, the results of which are now available. One of the findings is that very few young people’s hopes are fulfilled.
Enticing promises
At home, young people usually live in difficult economic circumstances. The death of family caregivers, family problems or abuse cause young people to leave. The study also shows that most immigrant young people come from families with an above-average number of children. Most (90 percent) had no formal employment before they left – an indication that they have little evidence of their skills to help them find work.
Around ten percent of the young people surveyed come to the mining regions through relatives, acquaintances or intermediaries. What initially looks like a friendly service often turns out to be exploitative trafficking. A 17-year-old girl also had this experience: “A woman who sold clothes in our village befriended my mother. She promised to help me find a job in Shinyanga and to buy me a bus ticket there. She said I would only have to pay it back when I had a job.” The young woman does not know how much the ticket cost her. But now she works as a waitress in a bar and pays off her debts every month – without knowing when they will finally be paid off.
Majority without great opportunities
Large mines always change their spatial and social environment. In most cases, small-scale mining is carried out in the immediate vicinity of the large mining areas: Small-scale miners try their luck with simple means that are often hazardous to health and the environment. Immigration leads to the development of slum-like mining towns in these areas. Bars and petty trade are booming, prostitution and violence are on the rise. Girls and young women in particular, who have difficulty finding work in the large mines, are exposed to sexual assault by employers and customers. According to the study, 37 percent of migrating young people are under the age of 18, the threshold for legal employment. This encourages exploitation and child labor, which is not found in the large mining companies, but in all other fields of activity.
Those young people who work in the large mines or have otherwise managed to earn a good wage live relatively well. But that is only around 6 percent. Around a third work in small-scale, informal mining.
Not a question of choice
The majority of young people surveyed do not consider their life in migration to be any better than before. However, better or worse is often not the decisive criterion for staying and not leaving. “”My life here in Geita is miserable. But it’s worse in Magu, where I come from,” says a 23-year-old man, for example. “The Nile perch we lived on no longer exists. What else can I do but try my luck here in the mines?””
You can find out exactly what photography is all about and other interesting articles in our in-house magazine (issue 3 – 2012) as a PDF.”
