QUICKLY--- brickmaking and stone quarrying in Rwanda

I'm just going to toss the pictures up here quick and then get off to bed. First is the mechanized brick/block factory. Then the area where they make bricks by hand. Then the stone quarry, where they beat the stone to pieces by hand.

This place is a similar size to brick manufacturers in Minneapolis, actually. A big operation! They get about 30 cents per brick.

Below is a large area where clay is farmed and bricks are made. All production is by hand, as is movement of the bricks from down there to up by the road.

Here are big stacks of bricks up by the road. Think how long it takes to get all those up here by hand, uphill. Possibly using a wheelbarrow. I'm not sure... didn't see any wheelbarrows.

Below is a good view of how they stack the bricks to make kilns. They make fires in the holes at the bottom, which cooks and cures the bricks.

This guy is paid about two cents per brick he makes.

In the background you see a Kiln that is done cooking. They have taken some of the bricks down and hauled them up to the road. These bricks are sold for 8-12 cents each.

Some of the bricks being used already, nearby.

Paver driveway being installed in Kigali today.

Below is the stone quarrying. All the stone is broken by hand (and by lighting fires to expand the rock and hope it cracks.) The stone is all hauled up from down there by hand. They get about $60 per dump truck load.



Here is a house close to the stone quarrying. This guy is stuccoing the house.

Here is a detailed look at the upper part of the house.... unique ventilation!