When Maria Carmona greets her mother, they embrace, hands clasped and foreheads touching. They have been through this ritual before. For the past five years, Ms. Carmona, 51, has left her home in Libres – west of Mexico City, in the province of Puebla – to work at a cherry-packing plant near Kelowna, saying goodbye each time to her mother and children. There are many seasonal workers just like her making these trips to provide for their families food, education and shelter.
Photographer John Lehmann followed some of the seasonal workers from Mexico to the Jealous Fruits facility in Kelowna, B.C.
The all female labour force of temporary foreign workers from Mexico sort and grade cherries at the Jealous Fruits facility.
A group of seasonal workers wait for their bus to their temporary accommodation after their shift.
Mexican seasonal workers make their way back to their temporary accommodation.
A group of workers wait to board a bus for the short ride to work.
Maria Jesus Carmona Degante arrives back in Mexico City.
Maria Jesus Carmona Degante's two children play with her niece at her home in Puebla, Mexico.
Maria talks with her mother Maria Petra Degante Lopez who is suffering from tumour in her abdomen.
Maria's daughter Eliana (C) reacts to a mount of tenderness by her mom at her grandmothers home.
Maria along with her children during an evening walk in their home town of Puebla.
People celebrate The Santa Rosa De Lima festival in Neuvo, Mexico.
Irma Gutierrez with her son Razie framed by her father Benigno Gutierrez in Vera Cruz, Mexico.
Pilar Chacon Sanchez (C) back at home with her mother Leticia Sanchez Urriola (R) and sister her sister, Karina Chacon Sanchez (L) at their home town of Puebla, Mexico.
Irma Gutierrez's son Raziel watches TV at his grandparents home in the town of Vera Cruz, Mexico.
Irma Gutierrez with her son Raziel.
Seasonal foreign workers from Mexico sort and grade cherries at the Jealous Fruits facility near Kelowna.