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Mar 2023
18m 40s

Syria's child labour problem: Abdullah's...

Bbc World Service
About this episode

Abdullah lives in northern Syria. He is 14, he lost his mother and brothers to the Syrian civil war. For years now Abdullah has been working to feed the rest of his family, and he's just survived one of the world’s most devastating earthquakes.

In this episode of Business Daily Ed Butler hears Abdullah's story.

Abdullah works at the Harakat Tarhin oil refinery outside Al Bab in north-west Syria. It's a makeshift oil refinery and they make fuel to feed the cars, trucks and heaters on which the region depends.

Oil is usually refined in massive industrial buildings, run by multi-national firms, but where Abdullah works it’s cooked in the back yard. He tells us he knows how dangerous his job is but that he has no choice and must carry on working.

Presenter / producer: Ed Butler Image: Abdullah; Credit: BBC

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