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I recently managed a whole 10 days off for the first time I can remember, and decided to scoot off and get my camera out. Having enjoyed visiting the ship breaking yards in Chittagong in 2022, I thought that I would go back and spend a few more days in Bangladesh with different scenery in the capital, Dhaka.
This place isn't a holiday destination, and if you have ever been to India by comparison I would say that Bangladesh is a different level of challenge in almost every way. For a curious person with any type of camera it is a remarkable place.
I spent a few hours in a brickworks in the south of Dhaka where the heat wave and humidity made the already medieval surroundings even more punishing. In the rabid heat, dust and madness I was surrounded by people making a living in the hardest fashion, but somehow stoic in their work and eager to say hello. Men, women and children (above the age of around 12 is working age) worked shoulder to shoulder to earn enough to live off.
For this child it will not be long before they join the rest of their family as the clay bricks dry out in the sun.
Dhaka Brickworks Child
After being sun dried the bricks are loaded up in pure manual labour fashion on the heads of the labourers. Each lady is expected to carry a minimum of 10 bricks, and then men must carry 12 (although some carried 14). Each round trip was around 150m, and each person will make somewhere between 200-250 trips per shift. One girl was running between the areas in an astounding feat of endurance - when my guide asked her why he received an answer and looked forlorn, as it turns out she was recently married and was 4 months pregnant.
Ladies With Bricks
After firing the bricks are cooled and then carried again by hand/head to the open storage yards. This was the dustiest place in the brickworks and was manned exclusively by fit men - they egged each other on, sang and made banter in the hottest, dustiest, hardest pit of a place. Each time they scooped up some bricks the dust and scalpings would fall into their eyes, mouth, ears and any other opening in the body. By this time my equipment was starting to suffer with the sharp dust coating lenses and the body and making it impossible to change, but I stood there and watched in awe of the stamina and fortitude of these people.
Dhaka Brickworks
Thanks for looking.
Z
This place isn't a holiday destination, and if you have ever been to India by comparison I would say that Bangladesh is a different level of challenge in almost every way. For a curious person with any type of camera it is a remarkable place.
I spent a few hours in a brickworks in the south of Dhaka where the heat wave and humidity made the already medieval surroundings even more punishing. In the rabid heat, dust and madness I was surrounded by people making a living in the hardest fashion, but somehow stoic in their work and eager to say hello. Men, women and children (above the age of around 12 is working age) worked shoulder to shoulder to earn enough to live off.
For this child it will not be long before they join the rest of their family as the clay bricks dry out in the sun.
Dhaka Brickworks ChildAfter being sun dried the bricks are loaded up in pure manual labour fashion on the heads of the labourers. Each lady is expected to carry a minimum of 10 bricks, and then men must carry 12 (although some carried 14). Each round trip was around 150m, and each person will make somewhere between 200-250 trips per shift. One girl was running between the areas in an astounding feat of endurance - when my guide asked her why he received an answer and looked forlorn, as it turns out she was recently married and was 4 months pregnant.
Ladies With BricksAfter firing the bricks are cooled and then carried again by hand/head to the open storage yards. This was the dustiest place in the brickworks and was manned exclusively by fit men - they egged each other on, sang and made banter in the hottest, dustiest, hardest pit of a place. Each time they scooped up some bricks the dust and scalpings would fall into their eyes, mouth, ears and any other opening in the body. By this time my equipment was starting to suffer with the sharp dust coating lenses and the body and making it impossible to change, but I stood there and watched in awe of the stamina and fortitude of these people.
Dhaka BrickworksThanks for looking.
Z
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