Chinese Paper Bag Slave: Man's Written Plea for Help Reaches Saks Fifth Avenue Customer
Imagine going shopping for some clothes and winding up getting way, way more than you bargained for? Well, Stephanie Wilson has a story to tell you. She recently spoke to Yahoo! Shine about a letter that she received, stowed away in a paper bag, along with her Saks Fifth Avenue purchases.
A prisoner held under reportedly inhumane conditions in China wrote a letter under grave circumstances. The author of that letter was Tohnain Emmanuel Njong, a native of Cameroon who was charged with fraud while working in China. He claims the charges were phony, but even if he was truly guilty he didn't deserve the abuse he faced at the hands of Chinese Prison guards.
According to Complex his statements included: "HELP HELP HELP..."
"We are ill-treated and work like slaves for 13 hours every day producing these bags in bulk in the prison factory," Njong wrote under penalty of death with a pen he lifted off the assembly line.
In addition to assembling the bag Njong and other poor souls were forced to make electronics and to sew for hours on end. Days started as early and stretched into darkness.
Wilson was shocked at what she was reading.
"My hands literally shook as I read the letter," she said during her Yahoo! interview. "I could not believe what I was reading. It felt very surreal. I did not know what to think. In those first few minutes, I did question the authenticity of the letter, but my gut instinct was that it was real."
Unfortunately some of these products may be making it to store-shelves across the world, including the US of A, despite strong regulations.
Saks Fifth Avenue owners Hudson's Bay Company reaffirmed their commitment to using legally sourced products.
"HBC has a rigorous social compliance program that outlines our zero tolerance policy, which includes forced labour," spokesperson Tiffany Bourré said to Yahoo!. "All vendors are required to participate in our social compliance program. As we move through the integration of Saks Fifth Avenue into Hudson's Bay Company, all Saks vendors are aligning with HBC policies." She went on to say that, "Hudson's Bay Company and Saks take this matter seriously and have investigated the matter."
Njong wrote the letter in hopes that somebody would listen to his plight. Two years later, his freedom already secured by way of early release, Wilson made his story known.
"I just want to hear how he is and let him know I have not stopped thinking about him since I got the letter," she remarked. "I want him to know I think what he did was extremely brave and courageous, and that I believe his story will result in some type of change."
What do you think of this whole sequence of events? Are you a skeptic who believes the letter to be fake? Let us know in the comments section below.
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