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| During the hottest days, acacia harvesters on the hills have a very hard time. In complex terrains, or on high hills, these workers have to use excavators to open zigzag "z" shaped roads along the hillsides to transport acacia. Photo: Huy Thu |
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| People who work as "acacia tappers" usually go in groups of 5-20 people. Each mountainous commune growing acacia in the districts of Anh Son, Thanh Chuong, Con Cuong... has 3-5 groups. Most members of the "acacia tappers" groups are women. Photo: Huy Thu |
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The "glue tapping" job is harsh in that: It cannot be done in the rain because the trees are slippery, which can easily cause accidents; in the sun it is too hard, both hot and tiring. On these 38 - 39 degree days, each day they go to work, in addition to bringing lunch, wearing tight clothes, and many hats, they also have to bring a lot of drinking water and leaves to shade from the sun. Photo: Huy Thu |
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| The "glue beating" job involves many steps such as cutting trees, cutting branches, peeling bark, transporting them onto trucks... among which, peeling bark takes the most time. If not done promptly, the tree will be exposed to the sun, the bark will stick firmly to the trunk and be difficult to peel off. Photo: Huy Thu |
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| "Glue breaking" workers have to go to work early on sunny days, around 3-4 am, they have already gathered together to go up the hill to cut trees and peel bark. Workers said that if they go to work at noon, around 11 am, and are still in the middle of the hill, they cannot work because of the sun and fatigue. Photo: Huy Thu |
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Women who participate in the "acacia tapping" profession not only peel the acacia bark, but are also the main porters. Some women also take on the task of carrying large, heavy logs. Photo: Huy Thu
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"Kumquat tapping" is a hard, arduous job, sometimes even dangerous, such as being hit by trees, crushed, crushed, broken limbs, stung by bees... However, local people still stick with the job because "there is no other job". Photo: Huy Thu |
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| If the logging is on the top of a hill and the vehicles cannot reach it, the "glue breaking" teams often tie the glucan into large bundles and roll them down the hill. For large logs, many people will join hands to transport them. Photo: Huy Thu |
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| Loading the glue onto the truck is also quite hard. After peeling off the glue, it is slippery and difficult to hold. Each "glue pounding" session, each team can load several trucks of glue. "Glue pounding" on hot sunny days or in storms makes loading even more difficult because glue is very slippery in the rain, easily causing accidents. Photo: Huy Thu |
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| The "glue beating" profession is paid based on output. After importing the glue, the wholesaler will pay the workers depending on the amount of glue sold. Each day, each person earns about 200,000 VND. Those who have a machine to cut trees have higher wages. In the photo: "glue beating" workers in Thanh My commune (Thanh Chuong) leave after a session of making glue on a hot day. Photo: Huy Thu |
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| The hard work of "glue beating". Clip: Huy Thu |
