Temperatures are rising again. In the first-ever women-run cashew processing factory in Pooneryn, 20 women wear face-masks, hair nets and aprons over their clothes as they sort, shell, dry and bottle cashews. Vanni Cashew, in Sri Lanka’s war-affected Northern Province, employs women with disabilities or those from female-headed households. The women wear three pairs of gloves, one layered on top of another, to protect their hands from exposure to cashew-nut shell liquid – a reddish-brown substance that, similar to poison ivy, causes skin irritation and peeling. The doors and windows are sealed or netted to prevent the moist coastal air from impacting cashew texture, and to keep the product free of insects and germs. To maintain certification, the women do not deviate from these conditions. They sweat it out for almost seven hours a day, taking the stacked gloves off only during their lunch break and sometimes when they pause for tea.

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Photo credit: Amita Arudpragasam