The Dock Workers

Bangladesh is really a country of rivers. Much of the economy, the country's transportation network, and the social fabric is built on the shifting nature of the rivers. Rivers are the predominant geographical feature of this relatively flat and low-lying country. The rivers of Bangladesh are the tails of the some of the world's most important and most sacred waterways. Nearly all of the rivers begin in the Himalayan range or high up on the Tibetan plateau. During the monsoon season and the swelling of these great rivers, much of the land naps under water. This is one of the great hardships of living on the land here but it is also one of the saving graces because with the flooding, fresh nutrients and minerals are deposited and thus, the land is some of the most fertile in the world.

Because so much trade and goods transportation is by boat, the workers along the docks are some of the cornerstones for the country's own sustainability. The days are long, the work is arduous, and the pay is barely enough to get to the next day. In these photographs, workers bag and remove the grain of Russian wheat, bringing it to trucks who will then distribute it throughout the country.

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