• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer

NC FIELD

North Carolina Focus on Increasing Education Leadership and Dignity

  • About
    • History
    • Staff & Board
    • Contact Us
  • News
    • Blog
    • Newsletters
  • Programs & Services
    • Give Food a Face
    • Poder Juvenil Campesino (PJC)
    • Farmworker Emergency Fund
    • Past Projects
      • Housing and Educational Resources for Families
      • New Horizons
  • Farmworker Facts
  • Recipe Book
  • How to Help
    • Donate Now
    • Volunteer

NY Times: Just 13, and Working Risky 12-Hour Shifts in the Tobacco Fields

December 11, 2015 by Peter Eversoll

The NY Times published this great article, featuring Saray’s story…

PINK HILL, N.C. — On many mornings, as tobacco plants tower around her, Saray Cambray Alvarez pulls a black plastic garbage bag over her 13-year-old body to protect her skin from leaves dripping with nicotine-tinged dew.

When Saray and other workers — including several more teenagers — get to the fields at 6, they punch holes through the bags for their arms. They are trying to avoid what is known as “green tobacco sickness,” or nicotine poisoning, which can cause vomiting, dizziness and irregular heart rates, among other symptoms.

Saray says that she sometimes has trouble breathing in the middle of all the heat, humidity and leaves, and that she often feels weary during her 12-hour shifts, when she moves through the rows to pluck unwanted flowers or pull off oversize leaves for the harvest.

Filed Under: News

Footer

Ready to Get Involved?

Yes, I'd Like to Make a Difference
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter

RECAP: The Give Food A Face Gala 2021

Watch the recap of the 2021 Give Food A Face virtual gala here!  

Lo que necesita saber sobre la vacuna COVID-19

El Episcopal Farmworker Ministry creó estos videos para responder sus preguntas sobre la vacuna COVID-19. Miran estos: Como es el proceso de la vacuna: Inmigrantes de Carolina del Norte comparten sus experiencias con la vacunación contra el COVID 19. Y tú, ¿ya te vacunaste? Por que vacunarse? Mensaje para la comunidad:

© 2022 NC FIELD · All Rights Reserved · Website by Tomatillo Design