Worldless children

by Luca Catalano Gonzaga
Part of Building bricks, killed by bricks
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It may seem like a neologism but it is not. As a matter of fact, all over the world children have always been the most docile, blackmailed and cheapest available work force to unscrupulous employers. According to data provided by international organizations, currently there are 150 million children in the world who do jobs that endanger their mental and physical health, and who are condemned to a life without any leisure or education. Among the children most at-risk, are the ones labouring in the furnaces. In many countries, bricks are still handmade. In Asia, Latin America and Africa, children dig clay for bricks using shovels, picks and awls. After mixing clay and water to get the proper consistency, children shape bricks by using small wooden moulds. Once the bricks are dry, they are first transported to the ovens to be cooked, and then, when ready, they are loaded onto trucks for shipment to construction companies. Each brick weighs up to 2kg, and a child carries on his head or shoulders up to 1.000-2.000 bricks per day, working 12 hours every day. The daily pay varies depending on the number of bricks handled and can be as low as 10 USD for a thousand bricks. The International Labor Organization (ILO) estimates that 2.6 million Nepalese children (40% of the entire population) between 5 and 14 years old are employed, thereof approximately 25.000 work in bricks kilns. There are more than 1.000 kilns in Nepal, thereof 750 in the Kathmandu Valley only. It has been calculated that these furnaces release, every year, about 83.000 tons of dioxin. “Worldless children” is a photo-reportage by Luca Catalano Gonzaga, funded by the Nando and Elsa Peretti Foundation. (text by Luca Catalano Gonzaga).

  • Kathmandu Valley, Nepal 2008. At 7 a.m. Yadhuy, 4 years old, has already started preparing some bricks in the moulds.
  • Kathmandu Valley, Nepal 2008. At 6:30 am, Ramesh, 5 years old, and his brother Prakash, 6 years old, are working to contribute to their family income.
  • Kathmandu Valley, Nepal 2008. Drying of the bricks near the furnace. Nepal’s bricks factories are located in rural and isolated areas. From the outside, these factories look like huge refugee camps, with small, temporary huts (called Jhyaulis) made of bricks covered with sheets of metal.
  • Kathmandu Valley, Nepal 2008. Transportation of bricks about to be cooked in the furnaces.
  • Kathmandu Valley, Nepal 2008. Prakash, 5 years old, is making bricks using the appropriate moulds.
  • Kathmandu Valley, Nepal 2008. Krishna, 2 years and 6 months, daughter of furnace workers, lives in a house built close to the furnaces.
  • Kathmandu Valley, Nepal 2008. It’s dawn and Sarita, 6 years old, tries to warm her hands.
  • Kathmandu Valley, Nepal 2008. Sarita 17 years old, is about to carry 24 bricks on her back. Each brick weighs 2 kg.
  • Kathmandu Valley, Nepal 2008. Nepali girl nearby a bricks factory.
  • Kathmandu Valley, Nepal 2008. Mukti Ram, 7 years old, covered with mud on his face, takes a moment of rest inside his home.
  • Kathmandu Valley, Nepal 2008. Kanan, 12 years old, gets a receipt for transporting bricks from the furnace to the truck. On average, each worker performs at least 150 transportation trips on a daily basis, earning as little as 10 USD.
  • Kathmandu Valley, Nepal 2008. Being a job that does not require special skills, the poorest of the poor come to work in bricks factories, these people come from remote and disadvantaged areas of their country, and in most cases are not able to read or write.
  • Kathmandu Valley, Nepal 2008. Transportation of metal plates to build huts nearby the furnaces.
  • Kathmandu Valley, Nepal 2008. Karna, 15 yers old, while carrying bricks.
  • Kathmandu Valley, Nepal 2008. A young worker is carrying bricks on his head, creating dusts that cause respiratory system diseases.
  • Kathmandu Valley, Nepal 2008. Each brick weighs up to 2 kg. The daily pay varies depending on the number of bricks handled and can be as low as 10 USD for every thousand bricks.
  • Kathmandu Valley, Nepal 2008. At the edge of the city of Kathmandu, sweaty and barefoot workers carry bricks to the kilns for cooking.
  • Kathmandu Valley, Nepal 2008. Karna, 15 years old, carrying bricks. Many furnace workers are immigrants coming from India.
  • Kathmandu Valley, Nepal 2008. Mother and daughter having a small rest at their home.
  • Kathmandu Valley, Nepal 2008. A moment at play nearby the furnaces in Kathmandu Valley.
  • Kathmandu Valley, Nepal 2008. Getting ready for transporting the bricks.
  • Kathmandu Valley, Nepal 2008. Kamal, 12 years old, from India, while she transports brick. She’s been wearing the same clothes for about three months.
  • Kathmandu Valley, Nepal 2008. Young child at work. Working 12 hours a day, a child may carry up to 1.000-2.000 bricks.
  • Kathmandu Valley, Nepal 2008. Children have to endure grueling shifts with paltry wages. Furthermore, the work is characterized by a debt bondage system that can bind some of them to factories for months and even years.
  • Kathmandu Valley, Nepal 2008. Bricks production in Nepal is booming, with more than a thousand kilns active across the country. About 25 thousand minors work there and half of them are under the age of 14.
  • Kathmandu Valley, Nepal 2008. A substantial number of children forced into labor works in bricks kilns spread across the country. The Government of Nepal has identified over 91.000 children working in the worst types of child labor, thereof more than 25.000 bonded child laborers are working in brick kilns and construction sites.
  • Kathmandu Valley, Nepal 2008. Child labor represents one of the most dramatic problems in Nepal. About 25 thousand minors work in the kilns and half of them are under the age of 14.
  • Kathmandu Valley, Nepal 2008. Lunch time for Chitraksh a bricks carrier who’s 14 years old.
  • Kathmandu Valley, Nepal 2008. Workers during a break.
  • Kathmandu Valley, Nepal 2008. Moment of refreshment thanks to an ice cream peddler.
  • Kathmandu Valley, Nepal 2008. A young worker prepares to carry bricks, wrapping his head with a cloth.
  • Kathmandu Valley, Nepal 2008. Young workers getting ready to carry bricks on their heads and bring them to the lorries for shipment.
  • Kathmandu Valley, Nepal 2008. Young worker carrying bricks to distribution trucks.
  • Kathmandu Valley, Nepal 2008. Phase of loading the bricks onto the trucks delivering them to the local construction companies.
  • Kathmandu Valley, Nepal 2008. In 2018, more than 1.000 bricks kilns were registered in Kathmandu Valley, with an increase of 258 kilns over the past decade (Institute for Research on Working Children, 2010).
  • Kathmandu Valley, Nepal 2008. Transport of materials for the furnace.
  • Kathmandu Valley, Nepal 2008. Bricks workers are among the most exploited and marginalized workers in Nepal. A workforce of nearly 200.000 people including an estimate of 25.000 children. These vulnerable people are debt-bound and subject to stressful working conditions.
  • Kathmandu Valley, Nepal 2008. Mother and daughter having a break, inside their home.
  • Kathmandu Valley, Nepal 2008. There are more than 200.000 kilns workers in Nepal and 13% of them are children.
  • Kathmandu Valley, Nepal 2008. Mukti Ram, 16 years old, a young worker.
  • Kathmandu Valley, Nepal 2008. At 4:30 am in the morning, Dhanyata, 16 years old , is preparing bricks.
  • Kathmandu Valley, Nepal 2008. Transportation of bricks to the furnaces in Kathmandu.
  • Kathmandu Valley, Nepal 2008. Punya, 14 years old, at dawn, rests and protects herself from the cold.

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