Comprehension: Children Risk Their Lives for Gold in Burkina Faso

Between half a million and 700,000 adolescents and younger children are caught up in the mining sector in Burkina Faso, according to the UN Children's Fund (Unicef.) 

Watch the video and answer the questions below.  Decide if the statements are True or False.

1.The village of Nosbin is compared to the American Wild West.
a. True
b. False

2.The children earn about 7 or 8 euros per day.
a. True
b. False

3. The government has brought 21 thousand children out of the mines.
a. True
b. False

For transcript and answers see below.

Transcript and Answers:

Around a hundred kilometres from Burkina Faso's capital Ougadougou lies a scene akin to the American Wild West. 

In the village of Nobsin, hundreds of diggers search for gold, a crucial source of income to the impoverished west African country.

But behind the glitter of precious metal lies a sad reality - that the majority of the miners are children. 

Aged between 5 and 18, every day they lower themselves into rough-hewn tunnels to seek their fortune. 

"When I grow up I'm going to use my money to build myself a house. I don't go to school, and I don't wish to go to school. I think I can earn more from gold-panning."

According to UNICEF, as many as 700 thousand children and adolescents work in 600 illegal mines across Burkina Faso, which officially produce one tonne of gold compared to 32 tonnes from industrial mines. 

And for many of the children, who earn between seven and eight euros a day, the work is their only chance of survival. 

"I've been at this gold-washing site for three years. I look for gold to pay for lessons, for motorbikes, for cars. I didn't go to school quite simply because no-one put me in school. Anyone who comes here knows that it's a hard job. It's because we don't have anything else to do that we stay here. The work is tough."

So tough that it can kill. In early December, a tunnel collapse at an illegal mine left fourteen people dead in the west of the country. 
NGO's have spoken out about the danger faced by the minors, who work more than ten hours a day close to toxic stocks of cyanide and mercury. 

"We noticed that a number of children who work on the sites are employed in work which is dangerous for them - physically dangerous - but it can be the case, in fact it is often the case, that the children work underground in the galleries."

Over the past three years, NGO's have brought 21 thousand children out of the mines. And the government has promised to form an agency to oversee safety. 
But in one of the world's poorest countries, many thousands of children will continue to be drawn to the gold rush, no matter what the risks. 

Answers:
1. a
2. a
3. b

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