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“I had a bunch of family photos in my<br />
wallet. Among them was a photo of one<br />
of my sisters who lived in Barbados at<br />
the time. The Super saw the photo and<br />
fell in love,” James chuckled.<br />
“We were paid 50 cents for the first<br />
couple of hampers. The others would<br />
be 75 cents and a dollar for the last<br />
one. The plantations were infested<br />
with snakes but we were only allowed<br />
to kill the rattle snakes,” he recalled.<br />
“When the snakes saw us they’d hiss<br />
away except for the rattle snakes.”<br />
James never got bit but he didn’t<br />
always feel well. He recounts when<br />
illness kept him from working.<br />
“I needed clearance to go back to the fields,<br />
but my Super wouldn’t let me. He said I<br />
wasn’t well enough. I told him that I needed<br />
money to feed my children. And within two<br />
days as opposed to several days I was given<br />
my money, and was told I could go back to<br />
work.”<br />
James said it was a no work, no pay policy.<br />
And with mouths to feed and the ultimate<br />
sacrifice to fulfill, he reported back to work<br />
and worked every day until his contract<br />
ended and returned home.<br />
Now almost 50 years later, he was back on<br />
American soil<br />
On January 28th 2014, James turned 75. To