By Josep Subirana (Veterinary Training Advisor)
10 Feb 2012

Dozens of chimneys rise in the flat countryside, belching out huge clouds of smoke. For what seems like miles all around acres of bricks lie drying in the sun, ready to be cooked in massive underground ovens.

The Brooke works in over 2900 brick kilns in India, many like the one I am in, lie just outside the capital Delhi.

The noise and dust are incredible as over 1,000,000 mud bricks pass through the making and cooking cycle.

Each cycle takes around 25 days and every day, from sun rise until dusk, men, women, children, horses and mules struggle to carry and mould tens of thousands of bricks. It is very dry and the dust makes it hard to see.

I am here training vets to examine and treat working animals’ eyes. I find conditions here in a short space of time that I wouldn’t come across in a normal veterinary practice in Europe working for months.

Both the animals and our own eyes ache with the dust.  But it is not only the dust that causes problems. The hot season is approaching and the heat of the sun, couple with the effect of the ovens, means that temperatures are routinely above 40 C.

The local community thanks us for our efforts treating the animals’ eyes and the training continues.

Read more about saving sight in India...

Or about our work in brick kilns.