October 21, 2018: Roselyn walks back to work from her home on the farm compound after checking on her children during her dinner break.
October 5, 2018: Roselyn sorts through flowers at the farm’s grading shed. She has worked at the farm for four years.
October 21, 2018: Roselyn and her fellow grading shed colleagues chat during a dinner break on a day when they had a long shift. When they work into the night dinner is provided for them.
October 5, 2018: Roselyn stands at her doorstep watching her neighbors doing different chores. Some farm workers at Running Dog Farm live in the farm’s compound with their families.
October 22, 2018: Roselyn takes a moment to rest and take off her gum boots at a neighbor’s doorstep after a long day at work at the farm.
October 22, 2018: Roselyn takes a moment to rest at her doorstep after work in the farm compound. She is a single mother of 4 who lives in a one-roomed house. Growing up she was a Jehovah’s Witness and wanted to work at the church offices and at some point she did but lost her job because she got pregnant and was in a committed relationship, which she says were against the church’s rules.
October 21, 2018: Roselyn washes he hands after having dinner at home while watching TV with her son Brendon in their one-roomed house on the farm compound.
October 22, 2018: Pictures of Roselyn’s family are displayed at her home on the farm compound. Roselyn is a single mother who takes care of her four children with the money that she earns as a general hand in the flower grading shed.
October 22, 2018: Natasha Findi, one of Roselyn’s daughters, hangs her siblings school forms that she washed at the farm’s compound in Mount Hampden. Natasha is a special needs child who doesn’t go to school because the schools Roselyn can afford don’t have programs for special needs children.
October 22, 2018: Belinda Findi, one of Roselyn’s daughters, play writes at a neighbor’s doorstep at the farm’s compound in Mount Hampden.
October 24, 2018: “My hands are stained because of work. They are now rough and discoloured. I feet are actually now softer than my hands.”
October 5, 2018: Roselyn looks in the mirror while preparing herself to go out after work at the farm.
October 22, 2018: Children play at the farm’s compound at Running Dog Farm in Mount Hampden.
October 8, 2018: Rekina Chivhange (42), a widow and farm worker working at Running Dog Farm in Mount Hampden. Rekina has worked as a general hand for 5 years at the farm.
October 20, 2018: Rekina harvests Aster Dark Milka flowers in preparation for grading at the grading shed where they are selected according to height and packed for shipment.
October 10, 2018: Rekina Chivhange carries a bucket of Paquita flowers during the harvesting season at the farm. As a general hand, her work is seasonal and depends on what is happening at the farm during a particular period.
October 20, 2018: Rekina arranges harvested Aster Dark Milka flowers in buckets awaiting transportation to the grading shed where they are graded according to height and packed for shipment.
October 20, 2018: “Since I started working at Running Dog Farm, I have never received protective gloves to use when harvesting flowers. We use our bear hands and over time the flowers cut through the skin and leave dye on our hands.”
October 8, 2018: “I don’t rest because at work I spend the whole day working and then when I get home there are things that I have to do.”
October 8, 2018: Rekina walks to a man-made dam near her home to fetch water for washing her dishes and clothes. The area is rife with informal brick makers, that have created mini-dams in the process of digging sand to make bricks. Because the water is not protected, she accesses water for drinking and cooking at a borehole near her home.
October 15, 2018: Rekina enjoys a light moment with her son Emmmanuel, while looking through his old exercise books from school. Emmanuel (15) works loading bricks at an informal market near his home at Beta in Mount Hampden. He stopped going to school in Grade 7 as his mother could not afford his school fees. He used to learn at Alpha Brick Primary where his fees was $25 per term. Rekina earns $3.42c per day before union and pension deductions. She works anywhere between 25 and 27 days and can earn between $79 and $81 per month.
“My son has the desire to go back to school. He often takes out his old schoolbooks and reads them but he can’t go further without completing his primary school education.”
October 15, 2018: Rekina holds an old picture of her late husband, Masaka Chimutanda (L). He committed suicide January 10, 2017 at their current home in Mount Hampden. He never left a note. “I was hurt and still wonder what happened because he never said anything or left a note.”
October 24, 2018: Rekina chats with her workmate Mazviitirei Chokufora after work as they walk home.