I was not expecting to enjoy this trip as much as I did. Many students were not fully understanding the reason why we were visiting this site, but once we arrived and started our tour, we TOTALLY understood. We couldn't believe how much manual labor went into salt production at this company in Ningo. We discussed safety precautions (OSHA regulations, etc.) inside the factory as well as outside. It was, and I hate to use the same word 50 million times but, AMAZING to see how much effort goes into this process. Men and women are inside these huge salt ponds with buckets and shovels, grouped together in a pair, and shovel salt into their own individual buckets, fill it to the top, one person bends down to help put the bucket on their head, while the other one assists and picks up their own bucket to place on their own head, and then run up a make-shift ramp onto a dirt road to pour the salt contents onto the back of a truck. The truck then carries the salt back to the factory to be cleaned and processed. AMAZING, again. Talk about manual labor! Here are some pictures:
Now I'm unsure of just how a person with a physical disability might be able to do this job, unless they had some type of adaptive equipment, such as a wheelbarrow, conveyor belt, etc. A person with a cognitive disability could certainly take on this job with adequate instruction. This is job is definitely not for everyone, one must be strong, motivated, and have good teamwork skills. As the pair brings their salt to the back of the truck, they are being tallied and paid according to how many buckets they put on the back of the truck. Talk about PAY AS YOU GO...geeze. These men and women have all of my respect.
Definitely recommend this trip for future intersessions as we learned so much from this trip, too much to blog about :)
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