Sri Lanka
This story is about a share cropper family living on cinnamon peeling in Bentota in the district of Galle in Sri Lanka. Ananda who is in his late 50s and his wife had been the bread winners for the family for years. Once their son Thushara got married to Kumari, Thushara's mother stopped going to the field and she bean to make cottage cigarettes (bedi). Kumari joined her husband to make the livelihood going with him to the cinnamon fields to harvest and then to peel....
more »Sri Lanka
This story is about a share cropper family living on cinnamon peeling in Bentota in the district of Galle in Sri Lanka. Ananda who is in his late 50s and his wife had been the bread winners for the family for years. Once their son Thushara got married to Kumari, Thushara's mother stopped going to the field and she bean to make cottage cigarettes (bedi). Kumari joined her husband to make the livelihood going with him to the cinnamon fields to harvest and then to peel. This family unit along with a relative who would receive one third of sale chiefly harvest and peel cinnamon in the lands owned by the village headman's family. Each of them would earn a little less than USD 2 a day when the work is available as it is seasonal.
From the early part of second millennium Sri Lanka (Ceylon) was not only the major source of cinnamon to Europe but also the exclusive source of its most pure form, the Ceylon cinnamon (Cinnamomum zeylanicum) being termed true cinnamon as opposed to what arrived from the south eastern lands. The European colonial domination of Sri Lanka had been closely linked with the cinnamon trade. The labour involved in the cinnamon harvesting and processing has been caste based from the time of the ancient kingdoms of Sri Lanka, through the colonial occupation up to the present day. The trials and tribulations of these peoples over the centuries have been completely eclipsed by the exotic aura of cinnamon.
Today they struggle on amidst labour exploitation directly related to international trade. The lives of the cinnamon people, a community of people who are directly linked to a produce and to date subject to economic exploitation. Yet, this community contributes to making Sri Lanka the largest cinnamon exporter- 90% of world trade of true cinnamon.
Sponsor : Imagine Tropics Project, Goethe-Institut Colombo -
http://www.goethe.de/ins/lk/prj/itr/pht/enindex.htm
Project director : Karin Apollonia Muller -
http://www.karinapolloniamueller.com/« less