SULFUR SLAVES
JAVA - INDONESIA

In the distance, bathed in a fine mist accompanied by a thick fog, their silhouettes appears like ghosts coming out of the volcano. Behind they leave the inhalation of toxic gasses coming out of sulfur chimneys. They have overcome the hardest challenge, the ascension to the edge of the crater, an arduous and interminable 300 meters incline. From this point forward, the level and downhill sections lie ahead. They accelerate their rhythm, despite the 70kg of weight on their shoulders.

To the east of the indonesian island of Java, in the entrails of Kawah Ijen, there lies one of the few sulfur mines in the world that is still primitively exploited by manual labor. The method of extraction of the mineral is very basic, but it works.

Utilizing metal pipes, as if they were oil pipelines, they extract the gases from their origins to the end of the pipes where the liquid state of the sulfur is deposited into a container. Open on the sides, it flows onto the ground, where it quickly solidifies due to the effect of thermal differences.

It’s a system that does not require any maintenance, or machinery for its functioning. The investment is null, as is the support the government offers the workers. This is a local exploitation.

The working conditions are precarious and very austere. The infrastructure in the campgrounds are minimum. Very neglected. There are 3 barracks or huts. One of them is reserved for a pair of administrators, and the other two for some of miners. The closest thing to a bed is a plank of wood “upholstered” with decaying cardboard. The only fuel to heat up water is wood cut from the forest. The water is collected from the rains. Electrical service would be a miracle.

There is no rest in Kawah Ijen.

All 365 days of the year are worked, as the miners live and charge by the day.

Amongst such a desolate reality the contrast with nature’s beauty is severe. There lies nearby a turquoise colored lake. But its bucolic looks deceive, for the waters are poisoned with acids.

That is the reality in Kawah Ijen, sacrificed and draining. Unhealthy, harsh and hostile work that yanks life slowly and silently in favor of chronic bronchitis, asthma and cardiovascular problems.

This is sulfur’s “Way of the Cross” .