Bangladesh is one giant delta, formed over thousands of ears by the two big rivers Padma River and Jamuna River, which is the local names for Ganges and Brahmaputra. The sediments, they are bringing from the Himalayas and India are very fine and excellent for farming, but for a modern society, which demands a large amount of gravel, pebbles or rock, in order to produce concrete and durable roads, it’s a disaster
In order to make concrete it’s necessary to mix in larger elements like pebbles and to make a firm base for the roads sharp stones are needed. As Dhaka is one of the fastest growing city in the world and has more construction sites with high rise buildings than any other place, the lack of pebbles and rocks is a major problem.From the North Western regions of Bangladesh, it’s possible to get rocks, which can be crushed into smaller pieces and some of the larger construction companies are actually sailing all the way up to these remote areas in order to bring back the valuable material. It’s expensive and very time consuming and can in no why cover the demands in Dhaka.
Fortunately, the rivers have also brought something else with them, ….an abundance of rich clay, which can be formed into bricks and burned at high temperatures. The bricks is of course mainly used for infill walls in between the load bearing structures of concrete, in buildings, but a very large part of the brick production are crushed into pebble size and can hence substitute the use of natural pebbles.
All around Dhaka, in the lower areas, you can see the chimneys of hundreds of small and primitive brick factories, each of them producing more than 5.mill bricks per year. It’s a lot of bricks.
In the monsoon season, they all get flooded and the production stops. When the dry season comes in the winter and spring, when the water has gone back, the chimneys and the production plants are renovated, and the production teams hired, a fast and very labor intensive production process is ready to begin.
The pollution over Dhaka is heavy in the production season and the government has taken measures to try to close down many of the brick production plants in order to diminish the pollutions, of course supported by the environmentalists and some of the larger Construction companies, who has started to produce concrete block, in order to make distance to their competitors who are using burned clay bricks. When and if the brick production is gone, the market for concrete blocks is totally open, and so is the price… Even today a bag of cement costs the same in Bangladesh as in Denmark, imagine what this will do the economy if they have success in eliminating the use of clay for the building industry, it will become tremendously expensive to build anything at all. But that’s another story.
Of course something should be done to get rid of the pollution, but its not a solution, simply to close the brick factories and not bring any alternatives to the table. The sane thing for a country like Bangladesh is to use their natural resources like clay, and import as little as possible of the expensive cinder, which is the raw material burned into cement, the raw material is expensive and so is the energy used for the burning processes and the whole operation is most lightly owned by multinational foreign companies, who doesn’t give a damn about the conditions of the Bangladeshi people, and the government just follow trend, where there is money there’s also political will to do anything, no matter what is beneficial for the people.
It would have been better if the government and the environmental organizations helped the brick producers make their systems efficient and jointly get control over the pollution. Bangladesh should be proud of having the clay and a long tradition of using it, and not try to substitute it with dull and expensive concrete.
Luis Khan, one of the famous architects, could see the values in the bricks and used the bricks as the main element in his wonder of a parliament building. Ironically he formed the parliament itself as a giant concrete silo like structure and all the surrounding buildings in red bricks. What a statement.
In the rainy season, when everything is flooded and its no longer possible to produce bricks, the outskirts of Dhaka is covered with mountains of red bricks, piled up in the millions, its amazing and very colorful to see such an abundance of red bricks. Alongside these mountains of bricks, is the workplace of the “brick people” a term which I have given them as I don’t know of any other term for this people.
They are sitting on the ground, often a whole family together in their colorful traditional Bangladeshi dresses, in the middle of piles of intact bricks and piles of small pebbles, which they have made from chopping the bricks to peaces with a hammer. Some of them are sheltered from the burning sun by a black umbrella; some are not shielded at all. It’s a harsh and unforgiving job; they work many hours every day, sometimes up to 10-12 hours in order to make a living. The scenery is often breathtaking beautiful, with all the colors of red, orange and yellowish and gray, the reflection in the water, which has risen to the middle of the embankments. All the umbrellas and all the beautiful dark people in their dresses, it’s a scenery which can’t leave your mind when you once have experienced it. As many things in Bangladesh there’s a wide span in the emotions you feel; the beauty of the scenery, and the tragedy hidden beneath the surface.
Many of the Brick People has shattered the bones in their hands more than one time, it hurts to think of the small fine fingers of the young boys and girls working alongside with the elders , how they will also crush their hands and will not be able to do a more descent job later on in life.
This is not a job for humans; it’s a job for machines. The daily wages is often not more that 50 taka a day, or a little less than 1 USD. Hardly enough to make ends meat even if the whole family is working hard, they are caught, can’t afford to get sick or absent for a single moment, must work, and work hard. No chance of development what so ever. And the worse part is, no-one even cares, these people are human leftovers, there are so many other needy groups of people in Bangladesh who needs help, the street children, the battered women, the crippled, the beggars, and many more. They don’t eve have a job, the brick people does.
And they are in expendable for the building industry as they are cheaper to hire than buying proper tools or machinery to help them or to do the work. On the lighter side some of the more responsible construction companies has actually made machinery which enables them to produce the pebbles on the construction site. And this trend might catch on, when the new generation of developers are taking over from to old ones. The higher education of the young generations sometimes also lead to more human ways of operation, at least that’s what I would like to think.
On a typical construction site in Dhaka, the bricks are brought to the site, and in the early morning a group of women and children arrives with their hammers, the umbrellas, and their rubber protection for their hands. They take place next to a pile of bricks and will sit there quietly the whole day… the only music in their lives is the sound of the constant clink! Clink! Chop! Chop ! clink …no time for anything else… not even a prayer.. one gets the feeling that prayers are only for the people who can afford it …. Not for the poor and hard working people… a weird thing about religion.
Those who might need the comfort most, doesn’t have the opportunity on the other hand the rich, are praying a lot and attending all the religious ceremonies, which tell them to be good, kind and treat their fellow man like they would like to be treated…. I’m afraid I’m getting a bit cynical! The Brick people will go home late in the evening and turn up again early next day and the next day and the… until the mountain of bricks are turned into small pebbles and carried away on the head of the construction workers for never to be seen again.