‘I don’t know how to tell the time. I will return home when it gets dark. Our work starts at midnight. This place is not bad. At least we have our own temporary hut. We lost our home in the river years ago. We had nowhere to go. When the brickfield is under water during the monsoon, we go to the village and take free work at people’s houses in return for food and shelter. All my family members go to different places. We miss each other very much. This work is hard, my mother can’t breathe at night, but this is the only work that keeps us altogether. Usually I dry 1000 bricks every day or carry bricks. Now it’s the lunch break, I am collecting coal for cooking. I get 80 taka ($1) daily, which is saved, along with my brothers & sisters. We are saving to build our own home’ - Shimu (10).

Story & Photography: Fabeha Monir