Temporary Shelter For The Masses (May 1, 2010)

It has been a while since I've put something up here. It isn't that things are staled, but to start talking about this project as fact before we had all the details solidified might have worked against us. This of course is the temporary shelter project that will give SOPUDEP a bunch of classrooms and has the potential to house countless families that are now living on the street because of the earthquake.

The project began almost immediately after the quake when I was approached by Kathlene Mcguinness, a student in the Interior Architecture Program at Ryerson University in Toronto Ontario, Canada. She informed me that they had created a committee dedicated to helping SOPUDEP in their rebuilding efforts. After my first meeting with her I knew that this was a special project and I could see it not just being a way for there to be a temporary school, but shelter for the masses.

Well, a few months later and we have a final design. One that is fully engineered to drain storm water under the shelter and is hurricane and earthquake resistant. The design is no tent! It is a spacious design that could easily sleep a family of six or more. Two full size double mattresses can also fit in there side by side.

The main framework is bamboo (an incredibly strong and flexible material). This bamboo is a brand new agricultural initiative in Haiti. We have a farmer who will deliver the first batch of bamboo to SOPUDEP this coming Wednesday.
The first order will build twenty six shelters. Sixteen of these will go to make eight classrooms that can seat over 200 students at a time (two shelters can be put together to make a larger space) and ten will go to housing some of SOPUDEP's staff's families. Most of these will be completed and livable in a couple weeks.

But beyond this, we want this to be a full fledged campaign to provide temporary housing to thousands of Haitians.
SOPUDEP will be instrumental in building and teaching people how to build the shelter (which is apparently fairly easy after you've done it once) and providing the materials.

There are different kinds of materials that can be used to cover the shelter, including reclaimed materials for free. In fact, the floor and tethering system is completely comprised from recycled materials like used cinderblock, rubble and old car tires. Walls can use old corrugated tin from roofs in conjunction with tarps.

But if it were all to be covered in new heavy duty heat reflective tarps... the cost per shelter, with bamboo, two bags of concrete and recycled materials...

UNDER $250.

Not a bad price to put a family in a home that will last a good year before repairs will need to be made.

SOPUDEP and The Sawatzky Family Foundation thank all who were involved in this truly important project! Especially Kathlene for her tireless efforts to bring this to fruition.

Ryan Sawatzky, Pesident

The Sawatzky Family Foundation