türkçe links to original Turkish article
(Milliyet Newspaper, 13 June 2020)
//Ed. note: another indication of how COVID-19 has
upset the world's equilibrium.//
20,000 from Istanbul in addition to these 3 Senegalese,
Rize expected an influx of about 20,000 tea workers
from Istanbul.
A long way from Dakar.
Because of the coronavirus outbreak this year, around 40,000 foreign,
mostly Georgian, workers who would have come to the eastern Black
Sea region to help with the tea harvest have been blocked by the
closed border gates. Local families are trying to harvest the tea with
their own resources and people from other walks of life are helping
out, too.
In place of the missing Georgians, foreign workers living in Turkey
who have work permits but cannot find work because of the outbreak
have come to Rize. For example, Senegalese citizens Cebrail Gawi,
Muhammet Alavi and Musa Sisse have started gathering tea in Rize
for 250 TL per day (about $35).
The three Senagalese, learned how to gather tea by watching the
internet (!) Those who see the three working in the tea fields are
quite taken aback but the Senegalese workers have won the hearts of
the local people with their hard work.
Cut, gather, drink.
Cebrail Gawi, who has lived in Turkey for 2.5 years, explained that
"I was working as a welder in Istanbul and when I got laid off I
came to Rize to gather tea. I saw tea for the first time in my life
when I came to Rize. There are no tea plantations in Senegal. I
only even learned to brew tea after I came to Turkey. Once the
harvest is over I'll go back to Istanbul."
As for Muhammet Alavi (24), he said that he "learned how to cut
and gather tea from my friends and from internet videos. In
Senegal I was a professional fisherman. When I arrived in Turkey
I couldn't find work so I came to Rize." For his part, Musa Sisse
said that he liked Rize and would come again next year for the
tea harvest.
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