A Brick Off The Old Block

Yesterday I went literally shopping for bricks with Pastor Shay and a church brother.

A large section of our church wall has fallen down due to aging and

heavy rainfall,.

So we have to fortify ourselves again.

A group of trustworthy workers are available '

we are arranging our supply of sand , bricks and cement.

We cannot afford a contractor, so we are doing

all the extra groundwork, and its taking

a long time.

This is a truck load of sand.

Sheeba admiring it, or maybe

counting its grains.. On the way to the kiln , about 40 kms outside the city.,

we passed a road repaving crew.


These are the un-baked bricks formed
with mud quarried from the surrounding area.
I saw some young children making the bricks. Its illegal
to employ children. But poverty forces people to do this.


There were blocks of bricks everywhere.
They had Grade A,B &C.
We want the top quality A grade bricks although they are the most expensive,
they are meant to last.


Pastor Shay examined the bricks.

This little donkey sat in the dirt.

He had just finished a dust bath,

kicking up quite a dust storm.

I reckon they use the donkeys to transport

mud or bricks.

No fuel needed.They are grazing on scrub grass.

They are not allowed in the city.

This is the coal generated oven chimney.

The entrance of the kiln.

This door was open.
Could have baked my apple pie in there.

The kiln owners are very wealthy people, although

they keep a low profile.

But the kiln workers are underpaid.

These are they shabby huts.

These children of the workers came around to say hello.

They should have been in school, but they were not.

I asked them about school and the eldest gave

me some kind of an evasive answer.

The kiln owner drives around in a nice SUV.

We went to a second kiln and saw

a different kind of oven.

The quality of their bricks were better, but

costlier.

Bricks stacked at the side

Behind the bricks you can see

the coal which is used as fuel.

Couldn 't help thinking of how

we are like clay in the hands of the Master Potter.

God forms each one of us uniquely and then

to mature us places us in the fiery furnace sometimes'

The blast of trials strengthens our faith,

and we can be used as the building blocks of God.

The chimneys in the distance made me recall

the fiery trial of Sadrach, Meshach anbd Abednego

in the book of Daniel.

On our way back I took photos of little hamlets.

This a shop with quilts, mattresses and plastic ware

These steel trunks ideal for storage.

On the way to school

A smart girl on her way to college.

Very good colleges and educational institutions are

mushrooming in the suburbs

as rural estate is cheaper.

Students either live in dorms etc.

or commute from the city.

Here is a video of the rural countryside.

I have some pictures and videos

which i will post later.