Bricks and Bees, Two Extremes

Having just returned to Lamjung, after spending a couple of months in Kathmandu, I have been finding it difficult to discover the next blog post topic. To write about one visit I made will require tact, knowledge and confidence. The issues involved have recently stimulated considerable research by many interested parties, who have created a series of recommendations, expressions of emotions on many levels and recently the establishment of government guidelines. However, keen not to be judgemental and critical of an industry about which I know so little, I will let those who wish to research the issues further form their own opinions.

So this blog post is about two ways of securing a livelihood, both of which I have experienced in the last few weeks, and which probably lie at polar extremes on the axis of acceptability. Brick factories and bee keeping.

Having been asked to visit a milk producer near to Bungamati, a Newari settlement Jude and I had stayed in shortly after our arrival in Nepal, I was astounded to see how the brick factory we had seen was now in full production and responsible for a huge change in the landscape. Rice paddies, now dried out, were transformed into level brick making areas where families from districts throughout Nepal live and work.

July 2014, and the brick factory lies dormant. Surrounding paddies are flooded and grow rice.

March 2015, and the same brick factory is in full production. The paddies are now dry and offer a brick making work area,
which when production ceases in May will once again grow rice.

Some of the 60 brick factories that crowd round Bhaktapur, close to the city.

 The Kathmandu valley is home to over 100 such factories, each employing between 350 and 500 workers. Nepal is a very poor country, where lack of work has stimulated huge migration to richer counties. For many low cast families, such as Dalits, the cost of migrating abroad is  unaffordable and so seasonal movement within Nepal is the only option.  Against this background where many families struggle to secure any income this industry has been found to contain all of the following practises and more. Labour exploitation, child and bonded workers, poor housing and sanitation, limited education facilities for employee’s children and animal cruelty. Nepal has a rapidly growing population and its economy is in a growth phase. Demand for the humble ‘brick’ is unsatisfied, creating a scenario where the ethics of the manufacturing process are ignored by those who buy and use them.

The grey clay is brought to the site where it is mixed and formed into bricks. Workers and their families build small sheds.
Often beds are also made from bricks.

Indian as well as Nepali workers find employment in the factories.

Bricks are made from September to May. Rural working families, in search of an income, once farm jobs are complete, move back to these factories where they build small sheds, 'jhauli', out of unfired brick. Factory owners provide loans which together with the practise of paying most of the wages at the seasons end, bond families into working for the entire time. Wages are very low, with brick moulding workers earning 300nrs for 1000 bricks. A kilo of rice costs 60nrs.

A worker mixes and moves the clay

The brick moulding process.

A wire is used to cut a piece of clay.

The clay is thrown into the cement dusted wooden mould and excess is removed with the wire

Finally the brick is knocked out to complete the 45 second process. 

Bricks have a primary dry

Stacked bricks complete the sun drying before being carried by donkeys, or people
to be fired in the huge kilns.

Coal fired kilns, 80mx25mx4m are filled several times during the season. 

Women clear the waste from the empty kiln ready for the next batch of bricks to be fired. A mother breast feeds her baby on
the ladder.

Children wait as their mother helps clean dust from the kiln. The welfare of these families
is of considerable concern but change  is very slow. 

This man from the Sherpa ethnic group spends the season carrying broken bricks rejected from the kiln. He is paid 10rs per basket.

Bricks that have been brought to the kiln by donkeys are re-stacked to ensure they are well fired. The kiln is sealed with fired brick and a layer of dust. 

The finished product. 'Himal Common Brick'

There is high demand an a continuous queue of lorries are filled. 

Both men and women empty the kilns. This women is carrying 30 brick, about 30 kgs.

Getting their cards marked. Workers are paid piece rates so their cards are stamped after each load.

 To do this work families bring their children out of school to live in these dusty, insanitary and harsh conditions. Conditions are becoming better but the rate of change is slow. Having a secure income takes president over almost everything allowing exploitation and continuation of these hardships.

Now for something completely different!

Dem Bahardur our local bee keeper

Dem Bahardur Gurung represents the polar opposite. He is a member of the Gurung ethnic group dominant in Lamjung district. Despite his small holding being in a very isolated position, perched on a hilltop, 1000m above Besisahar he has found his farming niche.  His few terraces produce vegetables and two simple bamboo and plastic tunnels grow tomatoes. When I visited him 3 months ago he had 7 bee hives which have now increased to 16. The hives are provided free by the local Agricultural Development Office, and he has found no difficulty finding the colonies to occupy them.

He seems to be in total harmony with his bee colonies

Both skillfully and proudly he shows us his hives, without recourse to any protective clothing whatsoever. In this sub-tropical climate every season seems to have its blossom and flowers. Honey is an important local product which supplies household dietary needs and has become a reliable source of income.
Finally he produces two small dishes, of the tastiest honey, for us to try which is eaten before I can take a photo. We buy a pot for 500 nrs which is not far from the price we would pay in the UK. So Dem Bahardur is making a high value product that he can easily carry to Besisahar where there is a ready, unsatisfied market.

Between the stored maize cobs is the entrance to a more traditional bee hive. Bees enter through the small black tunnel and
the colony live within the house.

Hives stand in small dishes of water to prevent ants entering. Prickly sticks prevent
entry to larger predators such as mongoose.

Our honey is carefully measured out. 

It’s difficult to reconcile these two situations. Those brick workers forced to endure such hard conditions, and this smallholder. Ethnicity is clearly one of the major issues which so strongly influence the choices a family can make. Land ownership is another influence among the many which determines the way of life people can follow and the life choices they can make.