By Sydney C

Vietnam

GeographyWhere is Vietnam

located? Vietnam is located on the coasts of southeast Asia. Next to Cambodia, Thailand, and Laos. Vietnam is surrounded by the Pacific Ocean, the Gulf of Thailand, the Gulf of Tonkin and the South China Sea. The total land area of Vietnam is 127,243 sq miles.

Geographic Features

Vietnam has tropical low lands, hills , and deltas. Those are the main geographic features in Vietnam. There are mountains in Vietnam, and they face the south china sea, the mountain peaks are about 2450m high. They are located in the northwest and central highlands of Vietnam. The highest point in Vietnam is Fan Si Pan and it is 3,144m high. The most popular deltas in Vietnam are the red river delta and the Mekong river delta.

Geographic Features

Climate and PrecipitationThe climate in Vietnam is

tropical because it is near the equator. It is warm and humid. The hottest / humidness months in Vietnam are July and August, this is also the wet season. There is only one really wet season in Vietnam and that is the summer. The annual rainfall in Vietnam is any where's from 300cm to 1200cm, on average.

Population and CitiesThe capital city in Vietnam is

called Hanoi, this city is populated at about 1.7 million people. The over all population of Vietnam is about 87,375,000. In Vietnam there are 59 provinces and 5 municipalities. A municipalities is a self-governing city, for example Coquitlam is municipality because we have are own city , and city hall and fire station, we are a district in another city, (Vancouver).

Languages and GovernmentThe Languages spoken in

Vietnam are Vietnamese (official), English, French, Chinese, Khmer, and some others. In Vietnam they have a single-party constitutional republic another wise know as communist party. This means that the party is supposed to supply everything for the people.

Family In Vietnam the people are

very family oriented. Most of the families have 3 generations living in there houses, meaning kids live with there great grandparents, or grandparents and maybe even there aunts or uncles. They eat together every day, the women in the house make all the meals and clean the house well there husbands and kids go to work. Yes the kids do go to work, it doesn’t matter the gender.

Education and Poverty Vietnam’s education system is

like Canada’s. They have 12 years of basic education but it is divided into 5 levels. There are pre-primary, primary, intermediate, secondary, and higher education. They pretty much have the same curriculum as us. In Vietnam poverty is an issue, 50% of the population in Vietnam still live on less than 2 $ a day, and many other people are vulnerable to sliding back into the poverty circle. Many of Vietnamese children don’t go to school because they have to help earn money for there family.

I’m sure all of you have heard of Nike, well you may have shoes from Nike, sports equipment or clothes but do you know kids in other countries made them? They made them in a place or factory called a sweat shop, and there is one Nike factory in Vietnam. About 77% of employees at this company suffer from respiratory problems or skin problems. This is from being around hazardous chemicals, with no protective gear. Kids work 12-20 hours a day for seven, or six days a week, all year round, and they only make 10 cents an hour. Why do they have to work? All of the kids let alone adults have to work to earn money for there family, to survive. They don’t have a choice, there just set to work. 1 of 10 kids sleeps in the factory at night because they don’t have any where to go.

Nike Shoe Company

What is a sweat shop? A sweat shop is a company or

factory that hires workers (kids) to work in unsafe working conditions, paying way below minimum wage (10 cents an hour) with no benefits, just to earn more money. In sweat shops they verbally and physically abuse the workers, some of the children that work there are ages 4-16 years old. the products that children make in Vietnam sweat shops are, shoes, clothes, rugs, toys, chocolate, and coffee.

Sweat Shops

Types of industriesWhat is an industry? An

industry is a factory or business that manufactures or produces goods. In Vietnam there are a lot of industries like food processing, garments, shoes, machine- building, mining, steel, cement, fertilizer, glass, tires, oil, paper, and much more. Yes all of they factories or companies have child laborers.

Types of Industries in Vietnam

Child labor is employment of kids below an age determined by law or custom. Meaning Factories or companies hire children to work to cut back the cost. The biggest known sweat shops in Vietnam are Nike, American Eagle, and Reebok . Nike has a bad rep, because it is well known for sweat shops/ child labor in other countries too.

Child Labor

What is child labor?

How Do Sweat Shops Affect Vietnam’s Economy?

In Vietnam sweat shops affect the economy by bringing in money for the larger companies, which they make profit from. There country gets richer. The kind of money (currency) they use Vietnam is called dong.

In Vietnam the children are affected in sweat shops by, being exposed to harsh chemicals, dangerous work areas, physical and verbal abuse, lack of sleep, and lack of education and food.

How Do Sweat Shops Affect The Children In Vietnam?

In Vietnam sweat shops affect both the children and there families. How do they affect there families? In Vietnam not only the children are affected the families are too by, not spending time with there children, heath problems, and if the children can not come up with there contribute to the family, they may die (won’t meet there survival needs).

How Do Sweat Shops In Vietnam Affect The Children's Families

In Vietnam Who Is Benefiting From Sweat Shops

People/countries are benefiting from sweat shops in Vietnam, not the people of Vietnam other citizens of other countries are. The companies and other countries are benefiting from sweat shops in Vietnam, because it brings more money to their country.

In Vietnam child labor and sweat shops are a big deal, the government set a law that you can not employ children under the age of 15. They are also inspecting the companies and factories for safety, and child workers.

What is being done in Vietnam about the problem

Here are some things we can do to make a difference for the children in sweat shops in Vietnam and all over the globe.

1) We can raise awareness in the media, and around the school.

2) stay away from companies that are known for child labor (sweat shops) such as Nike, American Eagle, etc.

3) also we can ask stores, were they get their items from, and which companies, that way you will know what isn’t made in sweat shops.

4) We can also make a huge difference by trying to buy items made in Canada.

5) Thank you for watching my slide show!

What can We do to make a difference

Books:Steen,Hansen,Ole, Vietnam, England, Wayland Publisher s

Ltd, 1996Web:Embar,Wanda, sweat shops and child labor, 2004,

05/14/11, http://www.veganpeace.com/sweatshops_and_child_labor.com

No name, sigmer technologies design, child abuse and exploitation, save the children, 2004, 05/12/11, http://www.savethechildren.net/vietnam/key_issues/ch_abuse/ch_labor.html

No name, Background Note: Vietnam, U.S. Department of State, 2010, 05/12/11, http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/4130.htm#econ

Citations