Garment factory workers in Bangladesh

It is just a year since the collapse of the building housing a number of garment factories in Dhaka, Bangladesh. More than 1000 people were killed, including families suffering multiple losses. Many more were also injured, many suffering life changing and debilitating injuries. Read some of their stories here.

There were promises of compensation, but for many who have suffered loss and injury, the wait for that compensation goes on, a year after the disaster. Some of those who survived the loss have had to learn to survive, and have pressed through their fears to find other work. For some, those fears are crippling and they are trapped in a fresh way by the memories and fears of that experience.

The Bangladeshi economy relies on the garment manufacturing industry, and there were fears that there it would slide in the aftermath of this incident. But it seems that is not so. Despite a commitment to fair wages and humane working conditions by those who use the cheap labour of Bangladesh to create their garments, the industry is thriving. In the first 9 months of this fiscal year, exports rose by 12%.

In the meantime, life has become more painful for many who survived that disaster a year ago.

How could God’s people make a difference in the face of this thriving industry that serves the purposes of wealthier nations? And what about those whose lives have been devastated by that event a year ago? How would God ask his people to act for their welfare?

Pray for those who suffered loss in that incident. And pray for garment factory workers whose job often entails difficult, even inhumane conditions.