If you need a better reason to quit smoking than your own health

Child labourers in Malawi, some as young as 5 years old, are forced by poverty to pick tobacco. Working conditions are so poor that the children absorb nicotine through their hands equivalent to smoking 50 cigarettes a day. They are paid the equivalent of US1.75 cents an hour.

The majority of European and North American tobacco companies purchase tobacco from Malawi to use in their cigarettes.

Further details of the report, carried out by Plan International, can be read here:

https://www.plan.org.au/mediacentre/mediareleases/plan_exposes_malawi_child_tobacco_pickers_50-a-day_habit

On a positive note - Cadbury chocolate is now fair trade! (Which kind of makes me sad in a way, that I have been loving their chocolate all my life and not ever thought about the people involved in its manufacture).

monday morning

I have just read The Little Prince for the first time. It is so sweet and profound. I picked it off my housemate's shelf last night when I couldn't sleep, and finished it just now. What a great way to recover from what was a pretty awful day yesterday.

I've caught a cold. Today is usually one of my work from home days, but I think I will spend it in bed, rather than working on art projects. Annoying. I found an Alfred Hitchcock DVD collection in the loungeroom which has 45 movies on it, so I'll be pretty busy with that I think.

I finally processed a roll of film shot on my Anny (plastic camera from the 60's). It's a Diana clone, so it takes 120 medium format film. I am thrilled with the vignetting and rich colours. Half the roll was taken in 2005, the rest in 2009. More Anny photos on flickr.