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Hope for the children of the stone quarry

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2008 Mid Year Appeal

Help quarry workers build a future from stone and dust

The stone quarry workers in west India are some of the most disadvantaged people in the world. Mainly women, they work from dawn to dusk, breaking large rocks with a heavy sledge-hammer for just one dollar a day. 

“From big stones we make small stones and from small stones we make very small stones for road construction,” says Paruba Hanumant Chaugule, a widow with two children. “But there is not sufficient money, so we have to survive as best we can. When we get enough money, we eat.”

Feeding their families is just one of the daily challenges these women face. Most live in basic conditions, sheltered by huts too tiny to stand in. Stone dust gets everywhere and many suffer from silicosis. There is no drinking water, no sanitation, no health facilities and no education for their children. Worst of all, without identity documents they cannot get a ration card or, in Paruba’s case, compensation for her husband’s death.

We are helping the stone quarry workers in their fight for better conditions. Our partner, Santulan, first started campaigning for their rights in 1997.

“With the support of Oxfam Australia we have been able to take up the workers’ issues at all levels of government,” says Bastu Rege, founder of Santulan.


Thanks to our the support, Lakshimbai now has clean drinking water, electricity, and insurance, and can see a better life ahead for her two younger children. "I want them to stay in school so they can get good jobs outside the mines and not have the life we have." Photo: Akshay Mahajan/OxfamAUS

Through our work, 5,000 stone quarry workers now have access to drinking water, 5,000 have ration cards, 14,000 are insured against injury and more than 8,000 children are receiving an education. A sense of community is developing, and with that, a belief that it is possible to have a better life, at least for their children.

But many more remain in desperate need with their lives in danger due to a lack of basic services such as clean water, good sanitation and sufficient medical care.

With your support we can continue to help families like Paruba’s, giving them hope for the future.

Please DONATE NOW to our Mid Year Appeal and help these people in need.

Together we can create lasting change for poor communities.