Today after white water rafting the nile we visited a sugar cane factory. Upon entering the gates of this gigantic factory we were blown away by the little city that the gates held within. The company, Madhavani Group's land stretched for 35km (the perfect and most profitable size for a sugar cane factory). In these 35km were housing for all the staff, schools for their children, parks with soccer fields, gas stations, banks and a general store. All seemed perfect. However, the resemblance to a colonial period cotton plantation in the United States was hard to miss once we got a presentation on the inner workings of the company.
We were addressed by the head economist, as well as the man in charge of processing to begin with. They explained to us how sugar refining happens, the step by step process, about their revenues (hundreds of millions), and about how the staff for the company was dealt with. We learned that 30% of the sugar that they refine is from their own 'estate' and 70% is from out-growers. The prime size for a sugar plantation (note their use of plantation) is 35km, so the travel from one end of the land to the central factory is not cost deficient. On these 35km of land 4000 employees are housed. As was explained to us, these employees have houses as close as possible to their place of work, so as to minimize travel time wasted. They told us of the soccer fields they have to keep the workers busy, in their words: distracted. The employees were living on what, to us, is less than minimum wage, in work houses. What was explained to us could only be compared to the indentured servants of the colonizers in the United States. We were told of their plans of expansion in the North, and their way of bribing the people in the North, who do not want them to spread themselves there. They open schools and pour money into infrastructures where they plan on developing, and then threaten that if they do not get permission to expand there, the schools will be closed. It is important to keep in mind that education is something that is cherished above everything else in this country. A lack of education makes you a nobody we have been told.
We were then introduced to the man who runs the company's NGO: KORD. He spoke to us of the many projects they were involved in. As was explained to us later by Mary, if an NGO has too many programs or projects, none of these projects will be executed to the full extent, and sufficient money for change will not be donated to each of these projects. Projects included putting proper garbage containers close to the work camps, and putting in place proper roads for travel between work camps. The way this man spoke of the work camps, of the situation of the workers. In his way, he told us that the workers could not leave the plantation, because they needed to get paid, they needed their children to get schooled, and if they didn't do as they were told, the schools would close, and no worker wants to be the reason that his child cannot get an education. Kord seemed like a scam in more ways than one. A way to keep the outside world from asking questions and digging too deep. On the surface the tens of projects that Kord wants to implement seem great, but to what extent can one organization handle all of these projects. This is the same for any company even. The moment that a company starts putting its hands in too many jars the company stops being as successful in individual jars.
Overall, when hearing of the revenues, and the sheer size of this operation of sugar refining it seems perfect. Millions in revenue, production and exporting in the hundreds of tons, the perfect company. However, when you go through the gates into the plantation city and hear of what goes on behind the millions, it is alarming. We were all saddened by the visit into what, to us, we thought was history.
-Yara Sifri
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