Or at least that's what I thought until I tried to make bricks in Uganda.
We spent an entire week in the city of Iganga and put a good amount of our money into brick making machines so a teeny tiny house being used as a school and orphanage could have a dormitory added to it. The idea was for us to make sure the brick making machines worked well and to teach the people in the area to use them.
They typically make bricks by burning a clay mixture, but this process has some flaws to it. The bricks are not uniform, they don't always last too long, and Uganda is dealing with a serious deforestation problem because of all the wood needed to burn the bricks. The brick making machines were a MUCH better solution.
How many Americans does it take to learn to use a brick making machine? That is the question. We had hired an engineer to help us get the machines in working order, but he wasn't coming until 2 days later... and we were there, the machines were there... not wanting to waste 2 days of brick making, we gave it a go.
It's harder than it looks, but thanks to some very smart (and strong) travel companions of mine, after a morning of hard work- we had one WHOLE brick to show for it. After lunch that afternoon we had a few more... the next day was brick making mania. (GO TEAM!)
To make a brick, you begin by using a shovel to smash apart all the clumps of dirt in your truckload of dirt. Not that hard, but it is a little tiring in the hot sun. Then you mix that dirt with a certain amount of sand and cement, add some water, and you have the beginnings of a brick. No cement mixers... you do that work with a hoe...and it is a bit exhausting. I really tried my best, but then I got an eye roll and a giggle and someone much stronger than I took over. HOORAH! Then you shovel the appropriate amount of the mixture into the machine, pull the big lever over to compress the brick, and then return the lever to the other side to lift the brick up and out of the machine. Simple in theory, but it did take some experimenting to learn the exact amount of mixture to put in... not too much so the machine could compress all the way, but enough that it was difficult to compress and didn't fall apart when it came out...
OK... getting carried away with details, but now you know how to make a brick... aren't you glad you read this blog? I thought so...
So, turns out... I don't have the muscles to do the compressing of the brick, or the lifting up of the brick. I tried. I even put my whole body weight into it... In fact, myself and the other dancer of the group were each hanging from either side of the lever and we STILL couldn't get that machine to compress.
So all I was good for was shoveling. Kind of depressing, but I like to think I became good at my job. Oh yeah- I also got water from the water pump on the other side of the yard. The pumping was tiring... but kind of fun. Carrying the jug of water half my body size seemed almost impossible... but I made it.
So yeah... I really suck at making bricks. To top it off... the kids living at the orphanage were so eager and willing to work and help that if I ever put that shovel down, even for a second, they picked it up and started doing my job... and they did it superbly. They also carry that big water jug (which is the size of their ENTIRE
little body) on a daily basis. And once the men in the area got to work on making bricks, it was a little embarrassing to see just how fast they were lapping us...
As an American... I'm definitely not used to doing manual labor. None of us were. (The awesomely strong people from our group that did a majority of that brick making got some nasty blisters on their hands.) That said, we were psyched to get to work when we felt like we could help a little. Ugandans... they're used to manual labor. They work hard every single day just to have water to drink... and they are willing to put in that work... even the kids... if it means having a better life. In my eyes, that deserves such a huge amount of respect.
And next time I make it back to Uganda, I'm doing some weight lifting beforehand.
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