But we tend to forget those men and women who work hard in dangerous conditions to build these apartment blocks. They are like nomads: they eat and live on the construction site, and when the job is done, they move to a new site. [break]
This group of teenagers from Jhulangia, Bardia, are barely out of high school. They came to the city as construction workers as there are very few options back in the village.
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They got the opportunity after hearing that the person who had contributed to the construction of a bridge near Jhulangia was looking for labour for Orchid Apartments in Kathmandu. It seemed like a good way to pay him back while earning a living.
Rajendra Chaudhary, 18, lives and works on the construction site. He came to Kathmandu because, he says, “There are no jobs in the village. If we need to start something of our own then…we need some money, without money it’s hard.”
They risk their lives working on high-rise constructions. But most of them are excited to be building homes for “rich” people even if the new apartment owners would most likely not care who was behind the construction, and where the labour came from. For these young boys, far from home, it is a matter of pride; they are standing on their own feet, without relying upon others.
Most of the boys are from farming communities. They may be building the dreams of others, but they have their own dreams, too. They hope the high-rises of Kathmandu will take them somewhere else in the future.
PHOTOS: PHURPU TSERING GURUNG
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