Seasonal operation of traditional brick factory
The brick-making is a labour-intensive industry. Hard work is needed to transform clay from the soil into green bricks, transport themonto the kiln, fire them and unload them. In South Asia most of these tasks are still done by hand, while in South-East Asia more and more steps are becoming mechanised. But even then,brick-making is a source of sweat and equally a source of income for many people who would barely survive without it. Especially in South Asia, brick-making is in symbiosis with large-scale seasonal rural unemployment: during the dry season, when the soils of the plains in northern India provide no work, millions of small farmers and landless agricultural workers migrate to the brick kilns in North India and Nepal for six months to work as moulders and fi remen in brick kilns. Some of them, such as the moulders migrate with their families, others like the firemen migrate alone. In both cases, this seasonal migration has a negative impact on their families and social life, particularly on the education of their children. On brick kilns, working condi¬tions
are tough and exploitative, and wages sometimes well below the minimum specified by the government. Labourers live in temporary housing without access to basic sanitation, water and electricity. However, this sup¬plementaryincome is absolutely crucial for their survival. A study in Vietnam 3 analysed that the supplementary income from brick-making in rural Vietnam is essential to cross the poverty line : without this income, people would
face starvation and misery.