Working ten hours or more a day, Nabila does the heavy, dirty work of packing mud into molds and carrying wheelbarrows full of bricks. At 12, she has worked in brick factories half her life and is probably the oldest of her peers.
The number of children forced to work in Afghanistan is already high and growing, fueled by the economic collapse after the Taliban took over the country and the world cut aid just over a year ago.
2 of 8 A child rests at a brick factory in Kabul, Afghanistan. — Photo: Ebrahim Noorozi/AP
A child rests at a brick factory in Kabul, Afghanistan. — Photo: Ebrahim Noorozi/AP
3 of 8 sevenyearolds at a brick factory outside of Kabul, Afghanistan — Photo: Ebrahim Noroozi
Sevenyearold children in a brick factory near Kabul, Afghanistan — Photo: Ebrahim Noroozi
A recent survey by NGO Save the Children estimates that half of the country’s families are putting children to work to put food on the table while livelihoods are disappearing.
Nowhere is this clearer than in the many brickworks along the road north of the capital, Kabul. The conditions in the ovens are difficult even for adults. But almost all have four or fiveyearolds working with their families in the summer heat from early morning until dusk.
Children participate in all stages of the brick making process. They carry canisters of water, they carry wooden brick molds filled with mud to lay in the sun to dry.
4 of 8 Two children work in a brick factory near Kabul, Afghanistan. — Photo: Ebrahim Noorozi/AP
Two children work in a brick factory near Kabul, Afghanistan. — Photo: Ebrahim Noorozi/AP
5 out of 8 boys in a brick factory in Afghanistan — Photo: Ebrahim Noorozi/AP
Boys in a brick factory in Afghanistan — Photo: Ebrahim Noorozi/AP
They load and wheelbarrow full of dry bricks into the kiln to be fired, and then wheelbarrow full of fired bricks. They pick up the embers that have burned in the furnace, look for bits that can still be used, inhale the soot and burn their fingers.
Children work with a determination that comes from knowing little more than the needs of their families. When asked about toys or games, they smile and shrug. Few went to school.
6 of 8 Child labor increased in Afghanistan after the Taliban regained power. — Photo: Ebrahim Noorozi/AP
Child labor increased in Afghanistan after the Taliban regained power. — Photo: Ebrahim Noorozi/AP
Nabila, the 12yearold girl, has been working in brick factories since she was five or six. Like many other workers, his family works part of the year in a kiln near Kabul and part of the year in one outside of Jalalabad, near the Pakistani border.
A few years ago she went to school a bit in Jalalabad. She would like to go back to school, but she can’t her family needs her work to survive, she said with a gentle smile.
“All we can think about is work,” she said.
7 out of 8 boys work in a brick factory outside of Kabul — Photo: Ebrahim Noroozi/AP
Boys work in a brick factory on the outskirts of Kabul — Photo: Ebrahim Noroozi/AP
Mohabbat, a 9yearold boy, paused for a moment with a pained expression on his face as he carried a load of coal. “My back hurts,” he said.
When asked what he wanted, he first asked, “What is a desire?” Then, after explaining it, he was silent for a moment, thinking. “I want to go to school and eat good food,” he said, then added, “I want to work well so we can have a home.”
The landscape around the factories is desolate and barren, with sooty black smoke pouring from furnace chimneys. Families live in ramshackle mud houses next to blast furnaces, each with a corner where they make their bricks. For most, a meal of the day is bread soaked in tea.
Rahim has three children between the ages of 5 and 12 who work with him in a brick factory. The children were in school and Rahim said he had long resisted letting them work. But even before the Taliban came to power, as the war raged on and the economy deteriorated, he said he had no choice.
“There’s no other way,” he said. “How can they learn if we have no bread to eat? Survival is more important.”
8 of 8 A boy transports bricks at a factory outside Kabul — Photo: Ebrahim Noroozi/AP
A boy transports bricks at a factory on the outskirts of Kabul (Photo: Ebrahim Noroozi/AP)
A light rain started recently in one of the ovens and the children were happy at first, thinking it would be a refreshing drizzle in the heat. Then the wind picked up. A cloud of dust hit them, covering their faces. The air turned yellow with dust. Some of the children could not open their eyes but continued to work. The rain broke into a downpour.
The children were soaked. One boy was pouring water and mud, but like the others he said he could not find shelter without finishing his work. The torrents of heavy rain dug ditches in the earth around them.
“We’re used to it,” he said. Then he turned to another boy: “Hurry up, let’s finish this.”