To make the transition to a low-energy lifestyle, it may be useful to first experience how other countries and cultures manage with less energy resources. It was with this intent that I decided to participate in a Habitat for Humanity project in the Dominican Republic, a Caribbean country that shares an island with the country of Haiti.
I first found out about the building project through the Global Village section of the Habitat website (habitat.org) which lists a number of projects from around the world that are available for anyone to apply for through their online application process.
Amidst other interesting in-formation presented at the site is the fact that "Habitat is an ecumenical Christian housing ministry that welcomes to its work people of all faiths." This was disconcerting news because I had never heard of there being a religious component to the building of homes for people that are in need. Upon more reading through the site, though, I found that one of the co-leaders for the Dominican project is an agnostic. Furthermore, during the actual building project, choice was always given to participate or not in anything dealing with religion.
Another issue was that a mandatory donation was required to participate in the project. The project length was from April 1 to 9, and the donation amount was set at US$950, and one is required to provide one’s own airfare. Nearly half of the donation was to go towards accommodation and food during a stay; the other $US450, towards the building materials for the homes. I found out later that this was not entirely correct: a portion of the funds also goes toward paying the trip expenses for the group leader (or leaders if there’s more than one). This fact should have been stipulated on the Habitat for Humanity website. Transparency is extremely im-portant when it comes to donations, and omitting details like this does not help establish credibility for a non-profit organization.
A total of 18 people were involved in this building project. All of us met at the airport in Santo Domingo, the capital of the country. It was, for the most part, a group of 18 complete strangers. But during the course of a six-hour bus ride, we became well-acquainted with each other as we made our way to the destination of Paraiso, a small village on the southwest side of the country. The group was an eclectic mix of mainly Americans from all across the US. Two notable exceptions were an Irishman and an American woman who had recently taken up residence in the Dominican Republic.
The building project consisted of five consecutive building days sandwiched between three rest and relaxation days. During the workdays, the group, along with some local workers, managed to partially erect two homes. Both homes were of the same design: three bedrooms, kitchen, dining room, living room, and one bathroom. The homes were single-level, built entirely out of cement, rebar and cinder blocks, with a few windows thrown in. No power tools were employed in the construction of the homes, and everything was done by hand.
The most labour-intensive work was the mixing of the cement and mescla mortar, done with shovels, picks, and a wheelbarrow. For the making of the foundation, we used 15 bags of sand, 15 bags of gravel, and 15 bags of cement, all of which was placed in a giant pile and thoroughly mixed using the picks and shovels. Water was then added by way of a bucket brigade which would transport water from a cistern that had been filled by a small garden hose. The cement and mortar was then transported with another bucket brigade to the people doing the trowel work.
The cinder blocks were moved in much the same fashion, with a number of workers forming a brigade to pass the blocks one by one down the line. At one of the building sites, the blocks were located off-site by a few hundred metres. The wheelbarrow was employed whenever it was not in use for other jobs, but individuals had to transport a number of blocks by hand. We were nearly two-thirds of the way finished moving the blocks when a group of US marines came out of nowhere to help. They drive around the Dominican Republic in a pick-up truck trying to help out whenever and wherever they can, I guess, on some type of PR-motivated mission. Their help was much appreciated that day.
After the foundations had been set, the next phase was the raising of the walls, one course at a time, with five courses being the maximum that could be put down in a day, due to weight and drying restrictions.
Group members would normally set their own work pace and choose their own jobs. During the course of the workdays, the group of 18 strangers somehow formed into one solid team capable of efficiently tackling any task or problem presented. Integration with the local community and culture came just as fast. By the end of the trip, each group member was well-versed in merengue and bachata dance steps. Friendships were forged even though a language barrier existed. On one of the nights, the habitat group threw a party for the local children, and over 100 showed up for the event. The outcome was one of mass chaos, but every person involved, both young and old, walked away smiling and laughing.
Another highlight was the baseball game between the habitat people and a mixed local team. The locals won, of course, with the audience being thoroughly amused by the number of tumbles and other unintended antics experienced by the habitat team.
The overall experience was one that I will never forget and one that was filled with unanticipated lessons. For example, the learning process, especially in a group atmosphere, requires attention to detail, hands-on learning, and constant guidance. It is not enough to read a book or watch an experienced person do a job in order to learn it. Mistakes have to be pointed out and people need to be guided along in order to learn quickly. This goes for even the most basic of jobs.
The group dynamics were just as important. Everyone had their own strengths and weaknesses. A balance was required in the teetering of these strengths and weaknesses as the group tried to accomplish a common goal. Using only one's strengths did not help the group overall; instead, trying to help improve others’ weak-nesses or improve your own weaknesses resulted in the most benefit to the group.
Another insightful experience was the role that technology played. The most important tools were the shovel, pick, wheel-barrow, string, trowel, bucket and wooden planks. It was surprising how versatile some of these tools were.
For instance, the wooden planks had been recycled many times from previous Habitat projects in the area. They were used repeatedly through our own building process, often saving much work that would have instead been done by the hands of many individuals.
A plank was used as a bridge for the wheel-barrow to bring cement into the interior of the house; another plank was used as a slide to help move blocks down a small hill to the building site; others were employed as forms for pouring the footings; and still more were used as scaffolding, while others were employed as benches and tables for people and food to rest on. It was encouraging to see how such a simple device could be used to solve so many problems, and that it could be used time and time again.
This is missing from our own society of consumerism, where higher technology is turned to first, instead of trying to find a solution to problems by using resourcefulness and simplicity.
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