Tobacco -- Death or Development?

Last Thursday I went with two other girls to a village located about 3 hours north of Chisinau. Our purpose was to interview a potential client for a work project. If chosen, they would receive a relatively large loan with very low interest. We would also use the information gathered to write a business plan in order to contribute to the organizational structure of their company. The company we visited was an agricultural business that raised many different types of fruits, vegetables, and tobacco. They not only planted fields, but also owned 8 greenhouses. If the loan was given, the greenhouses could be covered with a type of plastic that will allow them to obtain heat, lighting, and water. They would then be able to produce some crops year-round. The company currently employs over 150 people with seasonal work. If they would be able to cover these greenhouses, they would not only increase revenue, but would also be able to employ more workers year-round. This would contribute greatly to the economic development of the village. Other positive community projects are also being started by this company. One of those projects is a kindergarten for their employee’s children.

The owners took us on a tour of their greenhouses. They also took us to see the tobacco huts where tobacco was hung to dry. Middle aged women that looked much older than their numerical age suggested sat in dirt with tobacco leaves surrounding them. In their left hand they held what looked look a knitting needle with a heavy string attached. With their right hand they picked up a tobacco leaf and pierced it with the large needle. This mind-numbing action was repeated until the string was covered with tobacco leaves the width of the hut – one strand down and a few more months’ worth of string to go.

It caused me to ask questions I’d thought about before, but hadn't experienced before. There were the obvious questions that first come to mind regarding working conditions, but there were other questions that were not so obvious. First of all, even if these women were paid a respectable wage, how do I feel about the production of tobacco? Coming from a country where the deadly effects of cigarette addiction are understood at a very young age, a moral dilemma arises. Most of us would agree that creating jobs by drugs or prostitution would not be worth the repercussions. But what about tobacco? Is it okay to loan money to a company who contributes greatly to a mass amount of cancer and death? Or is it better to make cigarettes so that many women can be employed and put food on the table for the young children that are waiting at home? With Moldova’s bad economic state in mind, I also wondered if a county’s economic development and growth outweighs the repercussion of tobacco's effects.

I spotted another group of women further down the hut. The translator and I walked down the row. I proceeded to ask about their family. All of them had children. One of the women spoke up proudly and said, “My oldest daughter is going to college in Chisinau.” After this short conversation we walked back to where the others were standing. I was curious to how much these women made. I asked the owner what the wages for this manual labor were. She proceeded to tell me that the women worked 10 hours a day, 6 days a week, and got paid 1000 lei a month (about $100 a month).

(10 hours a day)(6 days a week)(4 weeks a month) = 240 hours/month
$100 a month/ 240 hours per month = about $0.42 per hour.

After returning home and thinking about this for a while, the number haunted me. I was almost mad at the owner that she would want a loan to employ more people at this rate. It bothered me so much that I went and talked to some of my friends about the numbers. What frightened me more was their response. “Oh yeah, that’s about average for working in the village,” they responded without any hint of concern in their voice. They proceeded to tell me that $100 a month is what respected village teachers make. I didn’t know what to say. In the past I had seen Moldova’s GPD per capita sitting at $2,500. Compared to USA’s $47,000, the numbers were shocking. Now seeing it in action was much more heavy and intense. I wondered if this would be considered “sweat-shop” wages. I finally decided they were not, but this got me thinking about more sticky situations regarding economic development. If there is no minimum wage, where is the line drawn between “helping people gain an income and increasing community development” and “taking advantage of cheap labor and destroying their humanity”? Thinking further, I also wondered if it is better to cut one person’s wage in half so that two people can hold jobs even if it does mean bending over that fine line. Think about the economic crisis in the states. For example, you have a job and your brother is struggling with unemployment. Would you rather get paid $20 an hour and your brother get paid nothing or both be employed and each receive $10 an hour? I know this is not the best example considering $10 an hour is nothing like splitting $0.42 between two, but I still think it is good to think about. I believe that thinking about examples like these will lead us to think about other situations regarding poverty, hunger, and other social injustices. It will lead us to think about the situations that break God's heart while breaking God's people.

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