Life in a Brickyard
by Patricia Kerkhofs
In the countryside of India, there are places called brickworks where families work really hard to make bricks by hand. These are brick kilns, where topsoil is mixed with a few other materials. This kind of hard work is exhaustive, but it provides work for people.
Every day, they wake up early and go to the kilns, where they shape the clay into bricks. It's tough work, especially because it's hot and there is a heavy smell caused by the clay and the fires. The women, with their rough and strong hands, knead the mud and place it inside moulds. They lift the wooden moulds and repeat the procedure. These bricks are put in the sun to dry and then baked in these kilns at high temperatures to harden them.
The families live in small, simple houses near the kilns. These houses are constructed using natural materials. Hence, they are not that robust, and they don’t protect against heat and cold that well. Kids enjoy playing with friends, but they also support their families by making bricks when growing up. Making a living and earning a lunch is a hard job for these families. But there is a strong sense of community and mutual support. This craftsmanship, although laborious and exhaustive, is an important economic activity these people do every day with pride and resilience.
Since the early 2000s, Indian brick factories have been involved in international scandals due to poor working conditions and environmental impact. In 2017, a documentary highlighted concerns about working conditions resembling slavery, with workers being loaned money upon hiring and having to work a whole season to repay the debt. Details such as wages, working hours, and debt interest are at the discretion of the factory owner. The promised pay never coincides with the actual pay, leaving you uncertain if your job will repay your debt. Rebels or escapees face violent repression. To aggravate the situation, the widespread exploitation of children under the age of 14, forced to work up to 9 hours a day, even in the height of summer.
In India, there are over 100,000 brick factories, employing more than 23 million workers. That's the scale of the phenomenon.
ProgressivE-zine #30 The Invisibles / Friday 01.21.22
