Bricks (Tofali)

The process of brick-making is evident everywhere here – by the sides of the road, in the middle of town...

First, apologies for not posting for so long, but I was s-i-c-k with strep. I lost several good explorin’ days! Awakening this morning from isolation and 24-sleeping I needed a new experience. Being the crazy-wild person I am, I quietly sat on my porch and waited for something exciting to happen, and to my delightment, birds began to appear in the trees above me. I saw one with a yellow breast sort of ramming my bushes (why, I don’t know), another florescent blue bird – highlighter blue – is my favorite yet, and I saw one with a long orange split tail… unfortunately s/he was mostly in silhouette… and I didn’t think to put on my glasses beforehand... still a little blurry in the head.


Bricks have interested me since I arrived.
Driving around, probably more than 95% of the houses you see are made of this dark red brick. The color matches your own thin coat of dust, so it’s clear where one ingredient comes from. I figured that was one of many additives, but as it turns out, all that these walls are made of is earth and water… I still find it hard to believe, but I’ve talked to several local people about it. I got a view of the complete process on my first trip to the hospital/clinic in Kabanga (I can’t believe I have to say first!). The bricks were laid out on the ground, covering its wave-like form with an attractive geometric pattern of red with black shadow. Immediately after that were square piles of bricks about 8-10 feet high. Underneath/inside you could see three small tunnels that resembled train tunnels in the side of a mountain. As we drove by I noticed light passing through.

Later I discovered that large trunks are burned in the holes under the brick piles and left to smolder for days. After the bricks are effectively cooked, people come and fetch them. Broken bricks are left to rest in piles beside the good bricks.

I saw another block of bricks on the path when Lloyd and I took our first walk in the surrounding hills. [pic]. I realized that they look especially strange when there is nobody around. These piles almost seem like ancient monuments… only not very ancient or monumental ;) I guess the work is done early or quickly and then piles stay indefinitely.


I was surprised to find a huge factory-like brick-making endeavor in the middle of Kasulu town. Unfortunately the owners, or someone speaking for them, didn’t want me to take a picture, and my Kiswahili isn’t good enough to put up a fight…or even to use a little sweet-talk on them… another good reason to learn! I figure I’ll try and get back there armed with some language before I leave Kasulu.

On my second trip to the clinic I saw some older men – 40s or 50s, pushing bikes away from the piles with bricks stacked up on their seats. It solved my question about transportation... My estimate is that they carried about 70 bricks each… could you imagine trying to build a house like this?! I don’t know if that’s what it was for, but just thinking about this possibility fatigued me.