Peace and Environment News* April 2000
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Peace and Environment News * April 2000 |
by Carolyn Koch (with notes from Rob Tom and Bill Steen)
 Building straw bale house in "Aves del Castillo" (Birds of the Castle) outside Obregon, January 1996. Photo: Bill and Athena Steen. |
We flocked shoulder to shoulder with the Mexican women around three waist-high, half-barrel mixing stands, stroking and turning the thick, voluptuous, grey-brown, clay slip up past our elbows. The slip, with the addition of cut straw, became the base plaster for the straw bale walls in the latest home built in January for the Casas Que Cantan (Houses That Sing) project in impoverished Xochitl, outside of Cuidad de Obregon, Mexico.
The project, sponsored by Save the Children, was developed to give the local people an opportunity to build inexpensive straw bale houses as an improvement over the flimsy shacks they lived in. The project is supported by donors from across North America.
Wayne, the Mormon architect from Utah, noticed a resemblance in the mud house-making activities of the graceful women to that of swallows, and he dubbed the Xochitlan women "The Swallows" or "Las Golondrinas." Our crew of eighteen Americans, a Canadian, a Mexico City resident and three Japanese were charmed by the metaphor.
For generations these women of Xochitl (which means "flower" in Nauhuatl) and their families have squatted on the unirrigated area that no one else wants outside of the great wheat-growing centre of Obregon. They lived in often-hot, stifling shacks made of corrugated metal sheets, scrap wood, tar paper and "what-have-you" in the dusty desert. It was all they thought they could afford.
One of the volunteers in the Save The Children building construction led by Bill and Athena Steen (authors of The Straw Bale House Book) was Rebecca from Xochitl. She took what she learned back home. She and her husband Carlos, with their children, built their own cool and comfortable home with a vaulted entryway and sculpted earthen shelves.
Fifteen other women, inspired by the possibility of having such a home for themselves, asked Save The Children and the Steens' non-profit Canelo Project for assistance in building homes for themselves.
Spring brings joy and sorrow
The Spring 1999 housebuilding season was busy and productive. Houses already under way were finished, a new house was built, and four houses were started. All were helped by funding from the international straw bale building community.
Myra, who lives in Casa Moosehugger (built with help from Canadians) commented, "I never knew it was possible to make something so beautiful with so little money."
As 1999 flew along, so did the activity in Xochitl and related discussions on the strawbale@crest.org e-mail listserver discussion group.
Saddening news came first from listserve member Bob Bolles of Sustainability International and a long-time straw bale builder in California and Mexico. His wife, Pam Bolles, an active proponent for Habitat For Humanity and sustainable housing, had succumbed to cancer. As a memorial for Pam, people suggested building another house, a chapel or some community project in Xochitl from donations made in her memory.
Then more heart-rending news arrived as Bill Steen reported that Rebecca and Carlos' 3-year-old daughter Ruth Ester had died tragically of accidental poisoning. Bill's e-mail described the tears that streamed down Rebecca's face in unspoken grief when their eyes next met, and he expressed a deep concern for her seeming lack of will to continue.
Small gifts, photos and notes to the distraught parents from listserve members around the world (including Canada, US, Ireland, and Australia) let Rebecca and Carlos know that their loss had touched people in far-away locales that they'd never imagined existed. A suggestion was made to create a memorial for Ruth Ester, and more monetary contributions came in.
Well gets international support
One idea that was very well received in the community was to build a well. However, it turned out that a well would be very expensive, so it was decided to use the funds intended for Pamela's memorial chapel to help pay for the well. An anonymous donor from Ireland was so touched by the sad story surrounding Ruth Ester that he pledged the entire $2000 (US) cost of the well so that funds would not be diverted from the Pamela Bolles Memorial Chapel. A stained glass artisan from Wisconsin made stained glass panels as gifts for Pamela's and Ruth Ester's families. An engineer in California asked that people give donations to Casas que Cantan in lieu of wedding presents. Another engineer from New Mexico volunteered to come to the January workshop, when the well was to be dug, to put together the water pump needed for the well.
The Casas Que Cantan building session this January took on a much broader community interest. An equally broad range of workshop participants came to build Rosario's family house. Jim, from Oklahoma in cowboy hat and boots, is a retired federal drug case prosecutor now building houses in Guatemala. He hit it off with Steven, our young down-to-earth-charming Manitoban.
Vibrant Sarah, with the tattooed lizard spiraling around her elbow, is a carpenter raised in the "bohemian" art community of Soho in New York City. Sarah was unexpectedly delighted when three traveling friends came to visit the building site. Sarah's friends scared the kids and some of the adults with their dark clothes, dreadlocks, facial tattoos and piercings. A parent told the kids that they were people "just like you" and to go ask them if they would like some coffee.
Jamie, a young teacher from Chicago, played often with Rosario's small children. At the base of a tall thorny green shrub in front of the rising home was an earthen shrine that the devout Rosario sculpted for the Virgin of Guadelope. Seated side by side on the straw-strewn ground, in a meditative mode, Jamie worked with Rosario in restoring the small altar to a fresh condition.
The children take over
The clay-straw bricks that we used from a neighbour's supply needed to be replaced, so a few of us began making rows of earthen bricks to dry in the sun. The workshoppers took turns filling and levelling the mix in the brick forms. Small children watching us were invited to help "mud in." Shortly, we were surrounded with a colony of diminutive workers. The kids took over the operation with their numbers and energy. The adults watched in amusement.
Rebecca accepted some donated clothes that I brought from Michigan, as well as a substantial amount of lace for window curtains. There were also donations of crayons and drawing pads for the kids, and eyeglasses for an elderly gentleman, Don Juan, who is a caretaker at the Save The Children's offices.
Don Juan, who has a deep love of gardening, had been finding it hard to see exactly what he was cultivating. He is tickled that he no longer mistakes vegetable sprouts for weeds.
Ultimately, though, it was heartening to see the subdued Rebecca and Carlos become more involved and animated with the new houseraising and the "good people" that came to help and learn. The vitality and hope that Rebecca and Carlos inspired in others is being returned to them.
Las Golondrinas continue making Casas Que Cantan. And the straw bale community continues to seek ways to help them help themselves. The latest is a CD of musical contributions from "balers" from around the world.
If you would like to donate to the loan fund or purchase a Casas Que Cantan music CD, please contact Athena and Bill Steen, The Canelo Project, HC1 Box 324, Canelo/Elgin, AZ 85611 USA. Phone: 520-455-5548. Email: absteen@dakotacom.net. Website with Casas Que Cantan pictures: www.caneloproject.com
Carolyn Koch, emptynester mother of three, worked alongside the Swallows of Xochitl for two weeks during the January 2000 Casas Que Cantan workshop. Ms. Koch, along with three friends, Deanne Bednar, Fran Lee and Gregory Matthews, is finishing a thatch-roofed, straw bale-walled studio in Oxford, Michigan. She may be contacted at: 248-656-9456 or Maybel@email.msn.com
Rob Tom, an architect/builder/consultant living near Dunrobin, may be reached via e-mail at: Rob_Tom@ncf.ca
Converted May 29, 2000 - Lg
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