CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Although we were not assigned to cane chopping detail, the work was strenuous. We had to bend over constantly to gather and tie piles of cane leaves all day long. The farm was smaller than some of the bigger farms that had automated equipment, so the stronger workers cut the cane by hand. We followed the choppers down the rows as they cut the stalks with their machetes, which was a labor-intensive job that required a lot of strength. The cutters had to be careful not to chop into the soil, and most of them had developed an exact technique and rhythm.
Hank told us if we wanted to switch up our work while our bodies adjusted to the labor, we could take shifts that allowed us to sit and strip the cane after it was cut. The alternation between stripping and cleaning up de
