Scattered around Dhaka, Bangladesh’s chaotic capital, brick factories cut and bake the foundation of the countries breakneck building boom.

Despite recent initiatives to improve efficiency and reduce green house gasses, Bangladesh’s brick making produces 6-million tons of CO2 annually, according to the United Nations Development Program.

Child labor is another issue in the country and in the brick-making industry. An estimated 5.7 million 10- to 14-year olds work in Bangladesh, according to the US Department of Labor. At the brick factory I visited, children much younger than 10 toiled in the kiln’s heat and dust, alongside their mothers and siblings.

 

Idle smoke stacks of brick kilns at one of Dhaka's many brickyards
One of the many children carrying bricks at a factory in Dhaka's outskirts
Workers standing next to drums of coal which are used to bake bricks
A brick worker who loads the coal used to bake bricks
Despite the difficulty of their labor, even children manage to smile

Brick layers stack dried, but unbaked bricks in rows near the kiln. After the area is filled with bricks, coal is placed between rows and then covered with soil to trap the heat
One of the many children working or around the brickyard

 

 


One Response to “Another Brick in the Bangladeshi Wall: Part 1”

  1. Leila

    Micah,
    Have been waiting for more of your warm, enlighting photos, along with short brief, ever so informative titles.
    ThankS

    Reply

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