Ron Kurti's Website

While most of us enjoyed sitting in comfortable office chairs, having a good meal, planning our night out, or just having a silly argument about nothing meaningful these women were breaking their backs on top of a blistering hot rooftop passing each other metal plates of concrete all day for 100-150 Nepali Rupees (about $1.50-$2.50 U.S.)

May 5th was the designated day for 24 Hours of Flickr – a photo contest which aims to capture a day in the life of the Flickr community. The winning photos will be showcased in a nice photo book. When I went to sleep on May 4th my mind was filled with questions about what I would see the next day. Where could I find a winning shot? What kind of picture are they looking for? What does it take to get into this book? I was sure that many of the 22,000 entrants will cheat and just submit their best recent photo, regardless of the date taken, but I really wanted to capture a real story from that particular day.

The next day fate had delivered me exactly what I didn’t know I was looking for.. and it was 15 meters away. I woke up on May 5 to the sound of construction across the street. On the roof of the building next door was the silhouette of roughly 35 women working in the hot sun.

Below, men loaded stones and sand into a concrete mixer while children played in the heaps around them. Once the mixed concrete was taken to the top it was systematically loaded onto metal plates. The plates were then passed one to another in a rhythmic chain until they reached their destination.

I grabbed my camera – worth about as much as each of them makes in a year – and snapped some photos and video.

Can you imagine letting babies and children run loose in an active construction site? This would never be allowed where I come from. For most of these women there is nowhere to leave the kids when they go to work… so the little ones come along. No big deal… just put a little cardboard on the sharp re-bar and you’ve got yourself a little playpen.

One of the things that struck me – as it usually does when I see situations like this that would be immediately branded as hardships in the west – is the attitude of the women. Thet were so jovial. Talking amongst themselves. Having a laugh. This is their life – their situation… its hard, but it does not stop them from being alive.

I am going to send in one of these photos to the Flickr contest. Please help me decide which one to submit. Drop me an email, a comment, or flickrmail regarding your pick. Thanks in advance.