The Brick Factory. There are no official numbers, but there are around 90,000 adults and 60,000 children employed in the brick industry. As housing needs grow, so does the demand for building materials. 490 brick factories in the Kathmandu Valley have become the main source of pollution in the area. © Harry Fisch
The Woman. A verbal agreement is usually made with the male head of the household to contract the family into work. Everyone, including young children, will be bonded by the contract and forced to labor. © Harry Fisch
Worker's Load. Men, women and children carry their loads. For brick-makers, there are no set working hours. They work until they are too tired to continue. Workers are paid by the brick. © Harry Fisch
The Brick Field. Large kilns need a large number of laborers for the manufacture and transport of bricks—the
cheaper the better. As brick
laying work is invariably paid by the piece, entire families are engaged in this work to maximize output
and their earnings, as every hand helps increase profits. © Harry Fisch
Squatting Brick Worker. Workers, who are usually from the poorest sections of society, are recruited against a loan which has to be repaid. They can not leave until the money is paid off. Sometimes they get an advance payment and the remaining amount is paid at the end of the season. © Harry Fisch
The Clay Field. Using hoes, workers extract the clay. In order to prepare the raw material, they dig into the mud and compose the clay before drying the bricks, which will then be transported to the finishing process. © Harry Fisch
Nepali Woman Carrying Bricks. Workers usually live near the kiln, with high levels of danger and dust. Working and living conditions are difficult. They work for many hours under the sun. © Harry Fisch
Father and Son. There are 2.6 million economically active children in Nepal. This is 42% of the total child population aged 5-14 years. Children usually carry bricks to and from the kilns. © Harry Fisch
The Warehouse Next to the Chimney. This is one of the stages of the working chain. The load is taken from the first one, next to the chimney to the final warehouse. © Harry Fisch
Proud Workers. Family members, including children, are involved in soil preparation, clay preparation, brick laying, drying, stacking, carrying bricks to the factories, firing and finally taking out bricks from the factories and loading them into trucks. Small children are
generally most involved with the initial stages to the drying. © Harry Fisch
Boy and Girl. Child workers carrying their loads to the warehouse. An average working day can last 14 hours. © Harry Fisch
Portrait of a Woman. There is no distinction between the work that has to be done by men, women or children in the brick factories. Women usually transport and make the raw bricks or transport the baked pieces. © Harry Fisch
The Chimney. These people work up to 14 hours a day in (mostly illegal) kilns without any knowledge of their rights. © Harry Fisch
The Brick Stockpile. © Harry Fisch