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Sticks and mortar

These are the first pictures of the children's creche we have introduced at a local brick kiln in Lalitpur. The pre-fab structure is made from bamboo and will hopefully serve as a template for future creche facilities elsewhere at the many other brick kilns in the area.

 

These young children are all provided with a safe refuge during the working day, enabling their parents to focus on earning the money that is vital to family survival. The creche is staffed by child trafficking survivors we are helping into work, supported by international volunteers such as Naomi Belton (bottom picture).

 

The urbanisation of the Kathmandu valley has seen the number of brick kilns required to service the burgeoning housebuilding industry grow exponentially. This has attracted many migrant workers to the area for the seasonal work on offer - bringing with them their children.

 

After a great deal of research, we focused our attention on providing safe daycare to the many young children of the workers - children who had previously been forced to play alongside their parents in the dangerous kiln environment, or who had to be supervised by older siblings who in turn were missing out on an education.

 

The project itself has been designed with the full backing of migrant workers, kiln owners and the local community.