[Strawbale] BWB workshop in Anapra, Mexico

["BWBNewsletter" <BWBNewsletter@lists....com>]

Straw-Bale, Low Income Housing
Workshop - Anapra, Mexico
June
30th-July
9, 2003

Builders Without Borders announces a work experience opportunity in
Anapra, a ?colonia? of Juarez, Mexico.  In conjunction with Casas de
la Cruz (a missionary group from Missouri, which has a 14 year history of
community projects in Anapra) architect Alfred von Bachmayr, will lead an
intensive ten day (8 work days) workshop to build a straw-bale home for a
local family.  This is an opportunity to learn about natural
building by doing, while experiencing life in this border 
community.

This workshop will include all stages of straw-bale construction
beginning with site preparations, bale raising, window/door buck, bond
beam and pallet truss installation, wall pinning and strapping, straw
ceiling insulation, roof assembly, electrical wiring and earthen
plastering.

BWB participants will interact daily with the family whose house is being
built, work side-by-side with local Mexican builders and a group of
college volunteers from St. Mark?s Parish in Independence, 
Missouri.

Cost is $695, including meals, dorm-style housing and instruction by BWB
facilitators who will be sharing the same housing.  The workshop
offers participants the opportunity to interact with local residents,
learn about building in challenged environments and impact the lives of
our neighbors across the border.

Contact: Builders Without Borders to register at 505-895-5400, or for
more information call Tyson Reed at 505-424-0673.

More About Builders Without Borders (BWB) and the Anapra Project:
BWB is a non-profit organization that began its operations in 1999
and consists of a group of natural builders concerned about housing
people of need around the world.  Our mission is to increase the
availability of affordable and sustainable, transitional and permanent
housing around the world, in partnership with local communities.

One of Builders Without Border?s goals is to train local builders to
build their own shelter through cooperative building projects. We promote
the use of straw, earth and other natural materials with the goal of
decreasing the reliance on expensive and often unavailable
alternatives.  We also recognize that such housing solutions will
necessarily be as varied as the communities and individuals
involved.  BWB is also creating a natural building handbook called,
Building Without Borders, Sustainable Construction for the Global
Village, for use in the field, with a variety of building techniques
and options, and case studies of what has and has not worked, in past
situations.  Ultimately our lessons will be shared freely on our web
site
www.BuildersWithoutBorders.org
to educate about sustainable building technologies.  BWB also
focuses on training programs, workshops and providing educational cross
cultural experiences for volunteers.

The Anapra Project: The community of Anapra is along the border
outside Juarez, Mexico and is the home of many families who have left
their homes in other parts of Mexico and came to the area in search of a
better life.  They live in houses made of discarded shipping pallets
covered with tar paper and with uninsulated roofs.  Such homes are
sweltering in the summer and freezing in the winter.  Straw bales,
locally available for about $1 each, are proving to be a comfortable and
affordable alternative.  Anapra alone has almost 20,000 residents
and Juarez is home to more than 200 such ?colonias? which are mostly
inhabited by factory workers, working just south of the border.

BWB has assisted in the building of three homes for local families. 
The houses are intended to demonstrate to the residents, how to build
comfortable, well-insulated, low-cost homes out of natural and recycled
materials.  They are designed to make use of passive solar heating
and utilize shipping pallets to fabricate roof trusses.  The
straw-bale walls rise from foundations made from tires, stone and broken
concrete known as ?urbanite.?  The walls are finished with earthen
plasters.

The continuing program incorporates micro-credit lending for economic
development and home mortgages.  Recipient families are required to
contribute time to building their homes and running community
programs.  Employment for local community members is created
building components for the houses and supporting building groups that
come to Anapra.  The program is intended to build cross cultural
relations while empowering a community through enterprise and the
creation of comfortable housing.