Arched Backs Under the Sun
Around 220 kilometres south of Amman, deep in the heart of Ma’an desert, there is a group of limestone quarries that provide rocks used in home construction. Reaching these quarries is nearly impossible without a four-wheel-drive vehicle and a guide who knows the area. But the trip is well worth the effort for the owners of the quarries, from which they procure the best and most expensive type of limestone in Jordan.
The position of “stone mover” involves the moving, by hand, of medium-sized stones from the quarries to trucks, prior to their transport to stone crushing plants where they are broken down for sale. The profession first began in the seventies, with the opening of the first limestone quarries in Jordan. At that time, most stone movers were either Egyptians or Jordanians—but Jordanians do not take up this profession any long.
Most of “stone movers” are originally from a very poor city in Egypt called Al-Mansoura, most of their relatives moved to Jordan to work in various professions, however, in the end they found themselves working as “stone movers” here. The weight of the stone sometimes reaches around 250 KGs, technically it needs four men to raise it up on the back of the “stone mover”.
Yasser, an Egyptian labour (46-year-old) works as a “stone mover” since a long time, his wage is JOD 250.00 for 10 working hours a day, 6 days a week.
Yasser’s job is all about moving stones on his back to a truck that moves the stones to Amman, the capital. The aim of moving stones using this outdated traditional technique is to maintain it from any damages as these rocks are considered very valuable in Jordan, and they are used to decorate the front end of selected and expensive buildings.
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Yasser says: three people have died at the quarries in Ma'an since 2012, either from a direct result of a work-related incident or as a result of the generally difficult work conditions. Plant owners have not provided the families of those who died with any compensation nor did they follow up with those who are injured on the job.
Some labours do the stones cutting using hand tools at quarries in Ma’an.
Hussein, has been a “stone mover” for four years, he says he moved to Jordan to work for a JOD 400 wage, but actually he is being paid hourly. Hussein left his wife who just got married to recently, and came to Jordan to find a better working opportunity. Lack of working opportunities in Egypt forced him to work in this field in Jordan.
A group of labours resting at one of the quarries. In Ma’an, the weather gets extremely hot, sometimes the temperature rises up to 40 degree Celsius. In spite of this, the labours work all over the year lacking safety equipment with no hospitals around; the nearest hospital is 50 KM away from the quarry.