Brick Kiln and Gravel Quarry Children West Bengal, India

Brick kilns and gravel quarries are a common sight in West Bengal, Orissa and the surrounding states of India. The children that work here are exploited 12-16 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Their world consists only of these mud holes, drying fields, kilns, rock piles and grinders. At night they sleep in the open or in makeshift shelter where sanitary conditions are nonexistent. There are no schools here, and for many there isn’t even a family. Over 1/3 of the children working at this kiln and 1/4 of the children at the quarry have been shipped here from other areas, where their parents have been forced to either sell them into slavery or are dependent on the meager wages that these children can provide.

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Dead Weight


© ROMANO/Stolen Childhoods

West Bengal, India
Bonded (slave) child laborer carrying clay to the drying fields.

Weary


© ROMANO/Stolen Childhoods

West Bengal, India
Bonded (slave) child laborer pounding clay into a brick form.

Bricks by Hand


©ROMANO/Stolen Childhoods

West Bengal, India
Bonded (slave) child laborer pounding clay into a brick form. The bricks behind him represent a day’s work.

Circle of Despair


©ROMANO/Stolen Childhoods

West Bengal, India
View of a mud churn at a brick kiln at dusk.

Burden of Clay


©ROMANO/Stolen Childhoods

West Bengal, India
Bonded (slave) child laborer loading clay onto his head to carry to the drying fields.

Child Slave


©ROMANO/Stolen Childhoods

West Bengal, India
9-year-old bonded (slave) child laborer pulling excess clay from a brick form. The bricks behind her represent a day’s work.

Loading Clay


©ROMANO/Stolen Childhoods

West Bengal, India
Bonded (slave) laborers preparing to load clay on their heads at the mud churn.

Mud Churn


©ROMANO/Stolen Childhoods

West Bengal, India
A mud churn at a brick kiln.