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  • Kawakawa, near Labasa, Fiji: Descendants of indentured laborers who came from India in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Roop Narayan and Basant Kumar cut sugarcane as members of Gang 12. Colonial-era laws prevent Indo-Fijians from owning land, so they must lease their holdings from native Fijian landlords and work as tenant farmers.
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  • Kawakawa, near Labasa, Fiji: Sudhesh Lal, field officer for the Fiji Sugar Corporation, makes the morning rounds, meeting the sirdars -- the overseers of the cane gangs -- to announce the daily quota of cane each gang may sell to the mill, to record the serial numbers of the cane trucks so that the gangs may be properly credited, and to issue forms so that the gangs can order more supplies from the mill
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  • Kawakawa, near Labasa, Fiji | 2012<br />
Kamal Deo performs the lengha dance at Arvendra and Bhawna’s wedding. Men performing wedding dances dressed as women is tradition in some Indo-Fijian communities. A cane cutter who lives with his wife and daughter, he earns more money as a wedding dancer with the nickname “Gorilla,” in demand throughout Fiji, than he does cutting cane.
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  • Wailea Settlement, Suva, Fiji: Sambhu Lal, 69, worked for thirty-three years at the Labasa sugar mill, while his family cut sugarcane. Their lease expired in 2004 and was not renewed, forcing them to move to Suva, where his son now works in a sawmill. He brought his house from Labasa to Suva and reassembled it on leased land in a slum area popular with displaced farmers
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  • Kawakawa, near Labasa, Fiji: Bansi Lal, 69, is the tractor driver for Gang 12, responsible for taking the loaded cane trucks to the tracks where a locomotive will transport them to the Labasa mill for processing
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  • Wailea Settlment, Near Suva, Fiji | 2011<br />
Sambhu Lal, 69, worked for thirty-three years at the Labasa sugar mill while his family cut sugar cane. Their land lease expired in 2004 and was not renewed, forcing them to move to the outskirts of Suva, where his son now works in a sawmill. He transported his house by truck and boat from Labasa and reassembled it on leased land in a squatter settlement popular with displaced cane farmers.
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  • Kawakawa, near Labasa, Fiji | 2011<br />
Descendants of indentured laborers who came from India in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Roop Narayan and Basant Kumar cut sugar cane as members of Gang 12 of the Labasa Mill. Colonial-era laws prevent Indo-Fijians from owning land, so they must lease their holdings from native Fijian landlords and work as tenant farmers.
    indiaworld-3693-merchant.jpg
  • Kawakawa, near Labasa, Fiji: Premila Wati Kumar places money into a basket on her cousin's head, as part of a women's celebration during her son's wedding
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  • Kawakawa, near Labasa, Fiji: Cane cutter Basant and Premila Kumar's granddaughters, Ayushi and Shanaya, visiting from Suva, sleep under mosquito netting.
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  • Kawakawa, near Labasa, Fiji: On weekends, Roneel Narayan helps his father and the other members of Gang 12 by clearing the brush so that the cane trucks can be loaded and moved. Currently in the seventh grade, he says he wants to attend the University of the South Pacific in Suva to study "whatever my parents can afford"
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  • Labasa, Fiji: A worker at the Labasa sugar mill monitors the progress of the cane juice as it is crystallized into raw sugar
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  • Kawakawa, near Labasa, Fiji. Roop Narayan, Suresh Singh, Sanju Prasad, and Sachin Kumar take an afternoon break from cane cutting to drink grog, which is crushed yaqoni root mixed with water. The result is a muddy, non-narcotic liquid with sedative properties
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  • Kawakawa, near Labasa, Fiji: Bhawna says goodbye to her relatives before she leaves her home to go with Arvendra after their wedding
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  • Labasa, Fiji. Arvendra Kumar and his male relatives wait for his bride
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  • Wailea Settlement, Suva, Fiji: Sambhu Lal, 69, worked for thirty-three years at the Labasa sugar mill, while his family cut sugarcane. Their lease expired in 2004 and was not renewed, forcing them to move to Suva, where his son now works in a sawmill. He brought his house from Labasa to Suva and reassembled it on leased land in a slum area popular with displaced farmers
    indiaworld-3434-merchant.jpg
  • Kawakawa, near Labasa, Fiji: Arvendra Kumar returns home for his wedding and shares an emotional moment with his mother, Premila Wati. Arvendra works in Latoka as a branch manager for an insurance company based in Suva.
    indiaworld-3714-merchant.jpg
  • Kawakawa, near Labasa, Fiji: Descendants of indentured laborers who came from India in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Roop Narayan and Basant Kumar cut sugarcane as members of Gang 12. Colonial-era laws prevent Indo-Fijians from owning land, so they must lease their holdings from native Fijian landlords and work as tenant farmers.
    indiaworld-3693-merchant.jpg
  • Suva, Fiji | 2011<br />
Roneel Chand (center) repairs shoes at a stall in downtown Suva, while his family grows cash crops on leased land in nearby Navua. He is the primary earner in his family, making, he says, up to FJD 100 (USD 50) a day repairing shoes.
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  • Kawakawa, near Labasa, Fiji: Preparing kava (crushed yaqoni root mixed with water, also called grog) to serve ar Arvendra's wedding
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  • Labasa, Fiji | 2012<br />
Bhawna’s relatives dress her in her wedding sari during her marriage ceremony to Arvendra. Arvendra’s parents work in the cane fields, while he is a manager in an insurance company. Bhawna studied at the University of the South Pacific in Suva, Fiji’s capital city. Like most of their generation of Indo-Fijians, they will work in professions far from the cane fields.
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  • Labasa, Fiji
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  • Kawakawa, near Labasa, Fiji | 2011<br />
Basant Kumar and Premila Wati, Arvendra’s parents, in their home. Basant has worked as a tenant farmer on this land nearly all his life and was recently able to renew his lease with his native Fijian landlord.
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  • Cane Cutters
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  • Bimla Wati, wife of Sanju Prasad of Gang Number 12, cooks breakfast over a wood fire in her kitchen.
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