Musahar children scavenge bricks from drains, hoping to build their dream home

By Sudha Dev, Saptari, April 20: Children from the Musahar community in Rajbiraj Municipality-6 have been spending their days collecting discarded bricks from muddy drains and demolished structures, hoping to build their own homes.

As road expansion work continues in the main market area of Ward 7, bricks removed from old houses and dug-out drains have become a source of hope for these children.

Aged between five and 12, they gather bricks from morning till evening and transport them home using city buses.

According to local Ramita Sharma, the children have been engaged in this activity for the past 15 days, often competing with one another to collect as many bricks as possible.

Deepak Sada, one of the children, said his father works as a laborer but struggles to provide even two meals a day due to rising costs.

 “We live in a hut. We are collecting bricks with the dream of building a proper house,” he said.

He has been regularly collecting bricks along with his seven-year-old brother during the school holidays.

Similarly, Satyanarayan Sada, aged 11, said that he has been gathering bricks from mud and waste.

“Our thatched house could be blown away by strong winds anytime. If we can build walls with bricks and cover them with tin, we could live in a safer house,” he said.

Most children in the settlement are currently involved in collecting bricks, driven by poverty and the hope of constructing better homes.

Local Om Prakash Sah said that due to the settlement being located in a market area, both economic and educational conditions remain extremely poor, forcing children to engage in such activities daily.