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The Women Braving the Seas to Collect Seaweed in India
Posted
August 25, 2020
Views
7,852
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189
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August 25, 2020
7,852
189
28
2.76%
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3:12Now PlayingWomen in India have been harvesting seaweed for generations. "Since we were children we’ve been a part of the sea," says Sundari, a seaweed harvester in Mayakulam village, "we couldn’t afford education either so we started learning to do this job in the sea."
Sundari has been doing the job for the past 25 years with a group of women. They wake up at 5am to cook meals for their kids before going to work. After 1pm, they bring the seaweed to the shore, remove the waste and stones, then separate the seaweed into piles for drying. When the merchant arrives, they give him the dried seaweed and he weighs it. Sundari says a day of harvesting seaweed gives her 300-500 rupees ($4-$6.70). "Since I’ve been venturing into the sea for harvest, I've able to get my children whatever they want and I'm happy," she says.
But the grueling job can be dangerous. Two of Sundari's friends died during the 2004 tsunami. "We were wondering why the water levels had drop," she recalls, "then the waves rose up high and sucked us down."
She says the women have developed a strong bond. "For example, if school fees for children are 2,000 rupees ($27) and someone says, "I don’t have it, will you give me?" Then we will give it, if we have it. If not, we’ll get a loan from someone else and help among the 10 of us."
Sundari doesn’t feel proud collecting seaweed. "No one respects us because we work in the sea," she says, "they say we don't know anything substantial."
She doesn't want her children to follow in her footsteps. "When our children go out," she hopes, "people should respect them because they are educated."
So she works to pay for her children's education.
"The sea is everything to us."
Shot before Covid-19 by Prakhar Jain
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