Humans of ... Western Powers still have colonial influence. 
Kenny Nelson, Grace Kinner, Priscila Garcia, Bethany Sheppard

Humans of Malawi

Ateefah (“Compassionate; sympathetic”)

“I remember being young, maybe five or six years old, and playing with my cousins in the forest near my home. Climbing trees and making forts out of fallen branches. Those trees are gone now, cut down to clear land for tobacco fields… They call me Ateefah. I’m the middle of nine children, and we all come out to work the tobacco fields everyday hoping for a good season. My parents and my four older siblings were the only ones involved in the production of tobacco, but they couldn’t produce as much as other farmers, and they weren’t making enough money to sustain our family. As a result, my four younger siblings and I started working the fields too. We help in preparing the land, planting the seeds, watering, weeding, applying fertilizers and pesticides, harvesting, stringing and hanging the tobacco leaves for curing, carrying the harvested leaves from the farms to the curing barns, and then packing them.

During arid seasons, we cannot harvest enough to sell to the buyers, and we need that money to buy food. The worst thing is that the companies that buy the tobacco from us are only seeking to make a profit, whatever the cost is. That cost is our livelihood and our health; we are exposed to the nicotine in the tobacco leaves which gives us headaches, stomach pain, coughing and respiratory diseases.  The pesticides and fertilizers we use are often sold without proper labeling or instructions. Therefore, it is quite impossible to determine how toxic they are and how to store, handle, use and dispose them. The runoff from pesticides and other chemicals goes into nearby rivers and streams, which are the source of the village water supply, and severely damages them.

There’s so much instability here, at least for those  of us who rely on growing tobacco. The tobacco leaf corporations basically control our well-being. We know that they make the biggest profit even though we do the hardest work but, we are stuck in this cycle, where the only beneficiaries are the corporations and Western Europe, one of our biggest importers. When it comes time to buy seeds and fertilizers, prices get extremely high and the kwacha (our currency) loses its value to the euro and the dollar. Prices drop immediately after; therefore, we don’t make very much money at all. Because tobacco is one of the only crops that countries import from us, we have to focus all of our attention on that. So rather than producing healthy food crops, we settle for the what is guaranteed to give us some sort of payment. Even with this payment, we still struggle to survive.

They told us growing tobacco would change our lives for the better. However, the money created created by the  tobacco market does not circulate through our local communities. Ultimately, it serves the best interests of Western Europe and the United States. We are never fully dependent on ourselves because of this. Even now, over fifty years after we declared our independence, westerners still keep their thumbs on us, still control our country. By making us dependent on one crop, and dependent on them buying it, it prevents true growth here and limits our economy. However, I believe that we can overcome this; my dream for my country is to see us one day, independent. self -sufficient, and thriving.

References

"Economy & Industry." Our Africa. Web. 06 Apr. 2017. <http://www.our-africa.org/malawi/economy-industry>.

Geist, Helmut, John Kapito, and Marty Otañez. The Tobacco Industry in Malawi: A Globalized Driver of Local Land Change. Web. 6 Apr. 2017. <file:///C:/Users/sheppardb/Downloads/The_Tobacco_Industry_in_Malawi.pdf>.

Hu, Teh-wei, and Anita H. Lee. "Tobacco Control and Tobacco Farming in African Countries." Journal of Public Health Policy. U.S. National Library of Medicine, Feb. 2015. Web. 02 Apr. 2017. <https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4412848/>.

Kalinga, Owen Jato, and Kenneth Ingham. "Malawi." Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 02 June 2014. Web. 06 Apr. 2017. <https://www.britannica.com/place/Malawi>.

"Malawi Kwacha to Depreciate after Tobacco Sells-Nico Report." Nyasa Times. 15 May 2013. Web. 6 Apr. 2017. <http://www.nyasatimes.com/malawi-kwacha-to-depreciate-after-tobacco-sells-nico-report/>.

"Tobacco in Malawi." FAO Corporate Document Repository. Web. 06 Apr. 2017. <http://www.fao.org/docrep/006/y4997e/y4997e0i.htm>.