Candidates in the current parliamentary elections are making use of poor children to distributing campaign literature, paying them in cash for their work.
Mohamed Hassan, 10, and his brother Wael, 9, have spent the past few days distributing campaign leaflets for candidates in Matareya. The two brothers and their friends gather in small groups in the streets and cafes and outside polling stations.
They get a basic payment of LE10 each per day, plus LE5 for every 500 papers they distribute. The two children wait for others to help them during election period as they work to meet “school expenses.”
Their mother is responsible for dealing with the candidates, but the two children still try to work only for candidates they like.
Mohamed and Wael ignore warnings from their teachers not to do such work, and they say the warnings have only encouraged them to pick the candidates who they think can serve the people. Added to which, they say, there is no other way to pay for school.
Translated from the Arabic Edition
