Tag: Sustainable development
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Work, Climate and Donkeys
For donkeys as well as people, the brick kilns in India are dangerous and unhealthy places to work – but unemployment is worse. At the RAJ kiln near Agra, accommodation for donkeys and their owners lies empty. Unseasonal rains have waterlogged the brick kilns and there’s no work for them here. Back in the […]
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Home Lives of the Donkey People
Donkey owners – problem or solution? Itinerant donkey owners working in Gujarat’s brick kilns spend 24 hours a day with their donkeys. They live, work, play and abide together. The donkeys’ welfare is entirely in the people’s hands. So who are they, and how do they live alongside their animals? I hope these photographs from […]
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Smartphones
Itinerant brick kiln workers use WhatsApp to stay in touch. Donkey owner-drivers working in the brick kilns of Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh are paid every Friday, but receive a lump sum payment at the end of the brick-making season. This allows them to buy Indian-made smartphones costing about 5,000 Rupees each. Most donkey owners are […]
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Donkey Cam
Donkeys have a blind spot immediately in front of them, but can see right round to their hind legs – though not behind their head. Simply mounting a wide angle camera on a donkey’s head won’t tell us how a donkey really ‘sees’ the world. But it can tell us something about its working life. […]
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Arjun, brick kiln boy
This is Arjun, he is a 12 year old boy working as a donkey driver in the MA Ambabpur brick kiln near Ahmedabad in Gujarat, India. This story will tell you about how he spends his day. This is Arjun’s family. There are five donkey owning families living beside the kiln works. They all live […]
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Animal traction
In the UK animal traction and haulage are things of the past – relegated to the heritage industry. In India draft animals play a key role in the modern economy. Aside from their use in agriculture, donkeys and mules are essential to the construction industry. The livelihoods of many thousands of marginalised families are reliant […]
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Brick Story
India is experiencing a building boom to cope with its rapid urbanisation. Thousands of concrete-frame high rise blocks, with brick infill, can be seen rising up arund Delhi and Mumbai. Almost every one of the millions of bricks involved has been transported by donkey or mule at the brick kilns where they are made. So […]
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Modern India is built on the backs of donkeys
Gurgaon, a city outside Delhi, India, is undergoing a boom in construction fuelled by the new Metro link and Delhi’s need for young professionals. Almost every brick in the country has been carried by donkeys during its manufacture. In Gurgaon they also work in lieu of cranes. Unlike cranes the donkeys can deliver bricks and mortar […]
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Bedrooms
This is a male horse with his owner Rohtas. They work in a brick kiln. They both live in a house with plastered and painted walls and electric light. This is a mule with his owner Vedpas. They also work at the brick kiln. The mule also has a nice bedroom, though not quite as […]
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Within and Without the State
South Sudan is the world’s youngest country, founded in 2011 in the wake of decades of war. I visited with Oxfam to photograph their programme ‘Within and Without the State’, that supports people in holding their rulers to account without confrontation.NGOs use a lot of buzzwords to describe relationships between people and their governments. But how […]
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A simple story about donkeys and people
With thanks to Mwende, Beth, Lydia, Jadida & The Donkey Sanctuary Aid policy and interventions can raise very complex issues but in drought ridden Mwingi in NE Kenya the role of donkeys is really very simple. Without donkeys, people and their livestock cannot survive. Donkeys form the vital final link in the distribution of water, […]
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Donkeys and ‘resilience’
‘Resilience’ is the latest buzzword in social, environmental and international development circles. Donkeys are known for their physical resilience in the face of drought and abuse by humans but they can also help women’s resilience in poor communities. Tumme Konton, her husband Sisay and their children live in a tiny settlement called Adankonsole, near the […]