KATHMANDU: The majority of people in the Kathmandu Valley are still asleep before daybreak, but in some parts of the city, work has already started. Brick kilns are one of those places.

The valley is home to more than 100 brick kilns, where workers spend their days molding, drying, firing, and stacking bricks amid dust and smoke. The work runs from the freezing cold of winter mornings to the scorching heat of summer afternoons.

The pay is extremely low. Even though the bricks made by laborers who toil in kilns are used to build large buildings and shiny apartments, their lives are spent in poverty. 

That is not all. Brick kiln workers face serious health risks. Here, skin conditions and respiratory issues are almost common. Workers from hill and Terai communities live at the kilns with their families in temporary, makeshift shelters, sleeping on damp ground while chasing the dream of a better life.

Brick kilns sit on the outer edges of the city’s glitter and bright lights, yet even here there is a quiet glow of their own. Amid the grueling work, workers find small moments of happiness, laughing and joking with each other, humming melodies, and cooking meals together.

A morning at a brick kiln in Sudal, Changunarayan Municipality, Bhaktapur, captured in photos.