- Camera: SONY
- Camera model: ILCE-6300
- Exposure time: 1/800
- Aperture: f/4.0
- ISO: 200
The next time you sit down for a cup of tea please think of this tea picker for this is her life. She does this work barefoot in a leech infested hillside for 8 hours a day. Day after day, week after week, month after month...year after year.
Imagine grabbing these tea leaves with your fingers, then a quick snap of the wrist is needed to break the leaves off the twig, then she throws the plucked leaves over her shoulder to a bag hanging there.
She works from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. ...has one tea break and a lunch break. Her daily required quota is 18 kilograms of tea (that is 39.6 pounds). For this she makes 750 rupees. (178 rupees equals 1 USD)...or $4.21 USD.
Imagine the RSI she suffers (repetative strain injury). Indeed her hands over the years become deformed, sinewy, painful.
If this woman "plucks" one kilogram more (2.2 pounds) for this she will earn 35 extra rupees. or 19 cents extra. If she plucks less of course she will get less.
Enjoy your cup of tea. (5 years and 379 days ago)
Sounds like slave labor. They have mechanical tea harvesters in our area.
It is slave labor and where they live is another story...horrible working and living conditions. Thank you for popping by.
Have to be careful, too, though. If something like that is introduced to quickly, it can have devastating results on the local economy, rapid unemployment, and these people's situation might actually become worse. I am NOT saying their lot shouldn't be helped, just that it has to be done carefully.
Straight to the point in this,whether to include all of her in this is debatable,but does get the point of her hands doing the work,another reason to count our blessings in the west.
Focous is on tea (and tea plucking) had I included all of her with her garb it would be just another tea picker photo...(my reasons at least). thank you.
Yes right to the point
Nice photo. Thanks for the information. Very interesting and something to think about. I'm sure this situation exists in many parts of the world for more than just tea.
Yes, you are right. I was told that these Tamil women (from Tamil Nadu India) are brought to Sri Lanka and are kept illiterate so that they can be easily manipulated. ....and here I was in Sri Lanka spouting out "STRIKE"...only to have this explanation given to me. I am so glad I'm a western, educated, affluent (well sort of), woman.
Howdie stranger!
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