Pouring a thimble-sized trickle of toxic mercury into a plastic bowl, a 13-year-old boy named Banga uses his bare hands to mix the darting liquid with congealed mud and whispers a prayer that slivers of gold will appear. In his flaking, discoloured palms the mercury looks harmless, but according to the WHO it attacks the nervous system and can cause brain damage.
Behind Banga, a long row of Zimbabwean children stand waist-deep in misery, retching as they reach into a foul...
more »Pouring a thimble-sized trickle of toxic mercury into a plastic bowl, a 13-year-old boy named Banga uses his bare hands to mix the darting liquid with congealed mud and whispers a prayer that slivers of gold will appear. In his flaking, discoloured palms the mercury looks harmless, but according to the WHO it attacks the nervous system and can cause brain damage.
Behind Banga, a long row of Zimbabwean children stand waist-deep in misery, retching as they reach into a foul alluvial pit, tainted by sewage, in search of ore containing minuscule traces of gold.
Thrust into action with little food or water, carrying their ore back and forth like ants, the children, some as young as eight, are part of Mozambique's black-market gold rush. As they plough wearily through the mud, some of the boys look west across the border to Zimbabwe; towards home, perhaps towards loved ones they have left behind. But there, the life of a young miner is even harder. Here, at least, there are no soldiers standing menacingly over them with assault rifles.
The children, many of them orphans, have joined a 20,000-strong army of Zimbabwean fortune hunters who have crossed the Chimanimani mountain range that separates their country's vast Marange diamond fields from Mozambique, to join the hunt for treasure in a new land. They face not only the drudgery of long, exhausting days, but danger from the toxic mercury, which can damage the lungs and kidneys as well as causing neurological problems.
As Banga curls up under his tarpaulin, the cool night temperatures are welcome at first. But the night also brings swarms of malaria-carrying mosquitoes. 'I feel happy that I am working,' says Banga. 'In Zimbabwe there is no hope for a future. I am told that I will make more money when I am older and that one day I will be rich if I work hard.'
Alongside Banga, his older brother shudders with a malarial fever. After four hours' sleep the pair will be back in the pits.
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