Tobacco

On Saturday, a friend and I were sitting at a bar, staring at folks on the street. A guy stood outside the bar smoking and my friend turned to me and said "I don't understand why people still smoke." I tried to come up with a few lame excuses (stress?), but eventually had to give in to my own cluelessness.

A million miles away, thousands of small-holder farmers in Zimbabwe send their kids to school, provide shelter and food for loved ones and more based solely on income derived from the sale of tobacco. The same tobacco that eventually makes it to the dude standing outside a bar smoking. These images and their story, captured for this article, highlight just what tobacco means for some.....

{Photo: NYTimes}