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We woke at 6:00 am with bustling around getting dressed and
ready for the day. We loaded into three separate vehicles and
El Caballo ushered me into the old beat up van. Around 7:00 am
we arrived at the farmer’s house to pick up the water containers
and filled them with water and ice. The men found me some
rubber boots and a roll of plastic bags to fashion a poncho for
me to wear. The all had their wardrobe of the same handy
except El Caballo who had left his rubber boots in the rain last
night and discovered that they had water in them. He went out
in his tennis shoes.
The short drive to the first field was through a lengthy
winding entrance from the paved country road that characterizes
many North Carolina fields, somewhat desolate and seemingly
consistent with being out of sight and out of mind.
The rows were long and very wet and I looked at them like I
remember the first looks I always took at a new crop in my youth
doing cotton, tomatoes, cucumbers, potatoes, cherries,
strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, peaches, oranges,
grapefruit, etc. The job was topping, suckering and weeding.
The flower had to be broken off the top and the suckers had to
be gleaned from the leaf. The suckers look like little shoots
of romaine lettuce that will turn to flower if they’re not taken
off the top of the tobacco leaf. El Caballo, other men who are
called Panza (because of his belly), El Nino (The child) because
of his boyish face and one who the farmers call Rudy were my
coaches today. They gave me a little training on proper
ergonomics on snapping the flower off with your whole hand after
they noticed that I started using my thumb and fore/index
finger. They said I’d regret it later when my fingers would
get sore. The men talked, sang, joked and chatted some
nonsense the entire day. They asked me lots of questions about
the union but I kept diverting the conversation to their
families and personal tragedies. El Nino divorced last year.
He remains a loyal father by supporting his four children ages
17, 16, 12 and 4. He is determined that his kids get an
education and not be left in dead end jobs in Mexico. He feels
being the U.S. for so long a time did not help his matrimony but
lack of jobs in Mexico led him to enter the H2A guest worker
program. Panza on the other hand is proud of his daughter who
will be graduating from law school and has to come up with
$2500.00 (US) for the graduating fees and finishing expenses.
While the men talked the time went by quickly in the
morning. If it hadn’t been for the plastic, I’d be drenched in
the morning dew. The downside was around 10:30, I hadn’t
noticed that the others had already shed the ponchos; I was too
busy learning to recognize the suckers from the leaves and
trying to keep up with the others. I started feeling very,
very hot, like in an oven, and somewhat sick. I thought of
waiting to get to the end of the row to where the vehicles were
parked so I could take off the plastic. I changed my mind and
took it off and stuck it in my belt and within minutes I had a
new lease of life.
We worked until around noon when the farmer showed up with
food. He had lunch bags with a variety of choices. Being one
of the last ones to reach him after washing hands, I got one of
the last bags with chicken tenders and French fries. I
devoured the chicken and a couple of fries and washed it down
with unsweetened tea. About 30 minutes later we were back in
the field. I felt born again; the food and the break restored
my enthusiasm. Around 3:00 we finished the field and drove to
another one. The break between fields was welcoming because of
the searing heat that was upon us. I don’t know how hot it was
but probably in the 90’s. We tore into the next field and
around 5:00 I hit a brick wall as the heat was just unbearable
and was feeling a little nauseas. We were just finishing what
everyone thought was the last row for the day so I sauntered
over to the water and the bathroom. While everyone arrived and
started washing up the farmer arrived and asked all to do
another round! After four cups of water and a little cold
Pepsi which I tried to stay away from all day because soft
drinks dehydrate, I thought I needed a little sugar to revive
myself. Well we sucked it up, went back in and the farmer
joined us in the job. El Nino had been driving tractor prior
to this last round and had seen me come out of the field. He
offered compassion to me by telling me to take the row next to
him. He would help me catch up if I got behind. Surprisingly,
the water, sugar and the short rest period gave me the second
wind I had been waiting for all day.
We finished at around 6:30 and made a slow drive back to the
camp. After being in the camp for a short time, El Nino and
another man nicknamed “Chemo” were going into town to the
Piggly Wiggly grocery store. I asked to go along because I
hadn’t brought any food supplies last night and wanted to have
something so I could share with the men and not mooch off of
them. It also provided me with the opportunity to visit the
dollar store to get a white cap, gloves and a couple of
bandannas for work gear. I had brought a Cleveland Indians
ball cap (dark blue) and nothing to shield my neck so I now have
a sun line there. The white cap and white bandanna will be
tucked under my cap to shield my neck (used to do it all the
time in the fields.) While at the Piggly Wiggly, Chemo asked
me to help translate so he could send money to his son in New
Bern, North Carolina. I did the translating and El Nino helped
him fill out the western-union form for sending the money.
All day I was nervous about the nicotine and tar. The
“Green Monster” as they know it is nicotine poisoning ingested
through the skin. I was lucky to find some light gloves with
grips on them. They’ll get wet but at least there would be a
shield from the tar and nicotine. I got a set of three pairs
so we’ll see how they work. Grabbing the suckers might be
problematic because some of them are very small.
I thought today about the wealth of the tobacco companies.
Having attended RJ Reynolds last shareholder’s meeting in their
opulent building in Winston-Salem a couple months ago, how there
can be such a disconnect with their abundance and affluence with
the lives these men have? I hope to talk more to the farmers
and their struggles in maintaining this opportunity for these
men as they too are often not taken into account in securing a
dependable labor supply. The monolithic tobacco companies
could make things more bearable and secure for both farmers and
farm workers if they wanted to. I hope we can make them
listen. As usual, there are a lot of talking heads, misguided
thinkers and bureaucrats who weight in when it comes to public
policy but have little knowledge of the daily struggles of those
who have to “dig in the trenches.”
Finally, I thought of why God created this plant that ends up
in a product that is roundly villanized. I read a story last
week in the Toledo Blade of how it might give us a product that
could attack cancer tumors! I thought that there might be a
glimmer of hope for this plant in God’s redemptive nature. It
also does not take away from the noble efforts of the men and
women who grow the crop and the men who cultivate and harvest it
to raise their families. They have my profoundest respect.
Call to the Fields Part V
Call to the Fields Part IV
Call to the
Fields Part III
Call to the Fields Part II
Call to the Fields |
