Closeup of Construction Practices in Kuwait

Watching construction of all kinds fascinates me, but mostly I love houses and buildings.  I blame it all on my dad; he was a carpenter.  I learned so much about construction by watching him building the houses in our neighborhood as I was growing up.  I saw everything from the excavation to the final finishing touches......and was able to learn by helping him.  

So now I am in Kuwait and seeing construction practices that I have never seen before and which would have my dad turning in his grave.   I want to share some of these things with you, because you never know:  some of you might even be as interested as I am!   I have taken many photos of buildings around here in their various stages, but nothing as complete as the process that is going on at the building next door.

Now keep in mind:  this is Kuwait, a third-world country with first-world money.  And one of the reasons that Kuwaitis are as rich as they are is that they find the cheapest labor they can find to do all the hard work.  These people come from many different countries to earn an honest living, but they are being taken advantage of and put in unsafe conditions just so that Kuwaitis can save a few bucks.  A sad situation, in my mind.

Anyway, to begin.  My story starts last April when I returned from my vacation with Grace in Cairo.  The building next door had a little accident with the brick facade falling off.   I posted a photo on Facebook about it.   There were bricks and debris all over the place over there; every day I would have to look out at it because my window overlooks the roof and the lobby area.  The debris took a little rest over the hot summer until this past week.  I have been photographing and videoing the repair process and that is what I am sharing with you.

One morning I looked out and saw a man digging through the debris and sorting out the salvageable bricks.   He picked out the reusable bricks and put them in his wheelbarrow and wheeled it over to the wall and then stacked the bricks next to the wall.   Here is the video:

Then another morning I saw they were building the scaffolding.  This was such an interesting process.....and very old fashioned.  When is the last time you saw old wood scaffolding that was lashed together with pieces of cloth?  

The next step was to get the bricks up on the scaffolding so they could begin the actual work:

Here is a video showing their manual labor as they are putting up the bricks:   Aw, too bad...the file is too big to upload.   I will have to learn to edit and cut it down to proper size.

Here is a video of them mixing the cement.   Is it any wonder that the bricks don't stay attached to the wall????   Damn.....too big, also.

Did you notice the workman wearing sandals?   There are no safety standards that have to be followed here.   Who cares if someone gets badly hurt?   Workmen are a dime a dozen....okay, a dinar a dozen....almost literally.   There are working people here who make $350-$400 a month and are expected to survive on that.

This was my documentary of the day.   Hope you enjoyed it.   I will get those videos fixed and attached as soon as possible.