According to reports an Arizona woman discovered an unusual note inside a newly purchased purse, which she bought at a Walmart store. Apparently the note was written by a desperate prisoner in China.
Laura Wallace found the note, written in Chinese, which was tucked inside the zipper compartment of the purse that she purchased at a Sierra Vista Walmart.
Wallace with the help of a Chinese-speaking person translated the note to English.
The letter reads: "Inmates in the Yingshan Prison in Guangxi, China are working 14 hours daily with no break/rest at noon, continue working overtime until 12 midnight, and whoever doesn't finish his work will be beaten. Their meals are without oil and salt. Every month, the boss pays the inmate 2000 yuan, any additional dishes will be finished by the police. If the inmates are sick and need medicine, the cost will be deducted from the salary. Prison in China is unlike prison in America, horse, cow, goat, pig, dog (literally, means inhumane treatment)."
Two more Chinese people translated the note to make sure the message was accurate Wallace added.
“I’m very sure that is exactly what the note says”, she said.
Walmart issued a statement on the incident. "We can’t comment specifically on this note, because we have no way to verify the origin of the letter, but one of our requirements for the suppliers who supply products for sale at Walmart is all work should be voluntary as indicated in our Standards for Suppliers."
In a statement the company’s national media relations director, Ragan Dickens said: We are making contact with the customer and appreciate her bringing this to our attention. With the information we have, we are looking into what happened so we can take the appropriate actions.
Wallace said she wanted to share the note to bring awareness to the situation.
"I don’t want this to be an attack on any store," Wallace said. "That's not the answer. This is happening at all kinds of places and people just probably don't know."
The author of the letter, which Wallace discovered has not been identified, similar notes have been discovered from major retailers in the United States.
A New York City woman in 2012 discovered a note pleading for help, inside a shopping bag she bought at Saks Fifth Avenue.
The person who wrote the letter was identified as Tohnain Emmanuel Njong,a Cameroonian nationalist, who was imprisoned in the city of Qingdao, he wrote: “We are ill-treated and work like slaves for 13 hours every day producing these bags in bulk in the prison factory.” Njong was released in December 2013.
About a month after Emmanuel Njong’s note was discovered, an Oregon woman found a prisoner’s letter inside Halloween decorations that she purchased at Kmart. The letter sought help from the person who found it to notify the World Human Right Organization: “Thousands people here who are under the persecution of the Chinese Communist Party Government will thank and remember you forever.”
AMandeep
