The people who feed US, 2020-2022
USA, South Dakota, Sioux Falls, 06 September 2020
Jose in his room with his sister Sara.
Jose is from Guatemala and have been living in Sioux Falls, SD last 20 years. He used to work in Smithfield meatpacking plant about 15 years until he got sick with COVID-19 in April this year. He was in the hospital on ventilator about 5 months, he is been released from the hospital just a week before I met him. He was still breathing with an oxygen cylinder. Jose is one of the many frontline essential workers who works in the meatpacking industry during the pandemic. In May his factory Smithfield was one of the largest hotspot in South Dakota. One of Joe’s friends (colleagues) died from COVID-19.
His sister Sara used to work in the same factory but she quiet. She started working as house cleaner now. She took care of her brother for 5 months while her brother, Jose was sick from COVID.
Meatpacking plant workers have been deemed essential workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The industry is known for an extremely high turnaround due to long shifts and strenuous work. Workers who persist at the job for longer periods are often the victims of health issues. A study in early May found that counties within 15 miles of a meatpacking plant had COVID-19 rates that were roughly double the rest of the country.
The majority of employees at meatpacking plants in the United States are either immigrants or refugees. This is a selection of portraits of immigrants who work in the meatpacking industry.
They are the backbone of the American food industry.
USA, Nebraska, Omaha, 02 March 2021
Aye Sway is karen, a nationality whose population are persecuted in Myanmar. She resided in a refugee camp in Thailand before she moved Omaha, Nebraska three years ago. She has been working in a chicken processing plant in Lincoln. During the time of the pandemic, she was scared to work in the plant, since many of her friends got severely sick from Covid-19.
USA, South Dakota, Sioux Falls, 08 September 2020
Ashnafi Dagne works for the Smithfield Foods meatpacking plant in Sioux Falls, S.D. Originally from Ethiopia, he has been working at the plant for five years. His first job at the plant was working as a butcher in various assembly lines. He now works at a saw machine, cutting and dividing ham to be further processed. Ashnafi considers himself a soldier—he decides how to approach the work at his job.
USA, Nebraska, Omaha, 04 March 2021
Man B Ghale, migrated from a Nepali refugee camp in Omaha, Nebraska in 2013. He used work at the Tyson meatpacking plant before he was fired. While he was attending hospital for his 75-year-old father who died from complications of Covid-19 in June. His mother Durga was also sick from covid. He suspects that because of the very cramped working condition in the meatpacking plant, he brought the virus to his house.
USA, South Dakota, Sioux Falls, 07 September 2020
Sandra Sibert, 47, and James Sibert, her husband, sit in the room where she had to quarantine in isolation. The couple met while both working at Smithfield Foods, a meatpacking plant in Sioux Falls, S.D. While her husband is now retired, Sandra still works at the meatpacking plant. She has been working at the plant for the last 15 years, and is now a COVID-19 survivor.
On April 7, 2020, she became sick during a shift at work, feeling shivers from head to toe. Sara remembers being unable to breathe, crouched in a corner. A coworker came to check on her. She was able to tell her co-worker to stay away because of the potential of them contracting the virus. The last memory she has of that day is when she was taken to the hospital by car. Three days later, it was verified that she contracted COVID-19. She was sick for three weeks.
USA, Nebraska, Omaha, 01 March 2021
Michael Ndagijimana, is a pastor in a Burundi Church in Omaha, Nebraska, who also works in a Tyson meatpacking plant in Omaha.
USA, South Dakota, Sioux Falls, 06 September 2020
An anonymous employee of the Smithfield Foods meatpacking plant stands for a portrait at his apartment in Sioux Falls, S.D. Originally from Eritrea, he moved from a meatpacking plant in Iowa to work at Smithfield Foods. He fled his home country of Eritrea because violence, only to now periodically experience harassment from members of local law enforcement. Although he does not like the job, he has no other options.
USA, Nebraska, Lincoln, 06 March 2021
Amjad Farman, 26, arrived in Lincoln, Nebraska, from a refugee camp in Turkey. He is originally a Yazidi from Iraq. He is been working in a Smart Chicken processing plant in Lincoln.
USA, Nebraska, Omaha, 07 March 2021
Hinda Guled, originally from Somalia, arrived in United States from a refugee camp in 2013. She used to work in Smithfield meat packing plant until she was burnt during a shift at the meatpacking plant. Since then, she has been unable to work.
USA, Nebraska, Omaha, 07 March 2021
Heussein Hirsu, originally from Somalia, came to United States from a refugee camp in Kenya. He works in a meat processing plant.
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