Where did the billions of dollars in donations to Haiti go? A big portion went to enrich the few who were overseeing the aid program.
“Structurally unsafe and laced with formaldehyde, the “hurricane-proof” classroom trailers installed by the Clinton Foundation in Haiti came from the same company being sued for sickening Hurricane Katrina victims.
Haiti
Building Blocks at a Fraction of a Penny Each
Harvey Lacey’s Ubuntu-Blox block building machine was featured in seventh place in yesterday’s blog post on Top 10 Cottage Industry Products. Today’s blog post shows how his block making process has shifted to using extremely low cost materials – vetiver roots, the waste material from making vetiver oil. The end result is similar to straw bales except the bales are smaller, lighter, more insect resistant and they’re made on site with waste materials. The mini bales are less expensive than ordinary straw bales, take up less space and can be made without an expensive baling machine. His open source plans make it easy for anyone to build his machine quite easily.
Builders Without Borders – Natural Building in Haiti
“BWB has partnered with Help Hayti for the design of an Internet & Community Center for the rural community of Terre Froide. It will use local materials (stone, bamboo, earth plasters) and feature photovoltaic and rainwater catchment systems. It is seen as a prototype for other rural communities in Haiti.”
Ubuntublox Update
“Simple, sustainable solutions to empower the impoverished around the world.
Adelia’s House
“In meetings with the community, getting feedback about the two completed constructions, and trying to decide on next steps forward, we learned that the super adobe style of building (soil stabilized with cement), although designed to be an affordable answer to the problem of durable housing, was still economically out of the reach of most people in Haiti, owing to the incredibly inflated cost of building materials.
Konbit Earthbag Shelters
“Konbit Shelter is a sustainable building project with the objective of sharing knowledge and resources through the creation of homes and community spaces in post earthquake Haiti. We are a group of artists, builders, architects, and engineers, who, after the January 2010 earthquake, asked ourselves how we could use our skills and resources to directly assist another community in a time of crisis.