Building Chika Homes in Debre Markos

There were a lot of firsts for me with this particular GV build. It was my first time to Africa with a Habitat program. It was my first time leading a team of volunteers. It was my first time working on a chika home from the ground up. (Chika is a mud / hay mixture used on the houses Habitat builds in Ethiopia. It is much more affordable (approx $1,500 USD) than making houses completely of concrete, they are easy to maintain and the homes last for many, many decades.) I don’t know what your initial thoughts are about building a home that consists partly of mud, but let me tell you this – it isn’t as easy as you may think. My previous builds in Romania and Tajikistan had well prepared me for the achy feeling I would have from doing real hard manual labor. Believe me, the first night I was seriously sore.

I’m getting ahead of myself. I always do. As a team leader my role was quite different than before. First-aid kit: check! Emergency management plan on hand: check! Does the team have enough work to do: check! Is there water on the work site: check! As you may imagine there is a lot of responsibility involved in making sure the welfare, emotional needs and expectations of a group of people are tended to for a two-week period. Being a team leader also means I’m floating around the site more and taking photos of the team instead on concentrating on hammering or digging for long periods of time. So in reality being the team leader means being a slacker. NOT. If only it were so easy…

So as I was saying earlier, the business of chika homes can be pretty back breaking if you don’t pace yourself. The Debre Markos Habitat affiliate and work site was well organized and well spread out. It was the largest work site I’d been on to date. On day number one I was both surprised and comforted to have Yoseph (our host) provide such a detailed itinerary for each day. I’ll lay it out for you a little like the way it was laid out for me with some added tips.

Day One: The team arrives to the site and begins digging the foundation trenches. (Note: Use of a shovel and pick ax in higher altitudes may cause exhaustion. Proceed with care and caution. Don’t feel intimidated by the 75-year old Ethiopian woman who takes the shovel from your hand, only to do the same amount of work three times faster. Watch and learn.)

Day Two: Work on erecting the wooden posts and nailing wooden frames in the morning. In the afternoon we assisted in roofing work. (Note: It helps to have a mallet and not a hammer when driving some of those nails through the wood. That’s if you have small and skinny arms like me. Also, working on the roof is not everyone’s forte (fear of heights) and therefore some simply helped by handing the sheet metal up to those on top. That’s what you call… TEAMWORK!)

We paused work on the site for a while to observe World Habitat Day. The theme: A Place to Be. With secure tenure as the primary focal point for this year’s WHD, it really makes me think of how blessed I am in my own living situation. To have so many opportunities, to be able to easily gain land rights and to not live in fear is a blessing. We learned through visiting the homeowners we were building for over the weekend that fear has many faces – like fear of eviction or fear of embarrassment. Habitat for Humanity Ethiopia is in an incredible position, where the local government has granted access to a large amount of land. The problem they face now is obtaining the money needed to continue building. For our friends there at the affiliate, their fear is that the government may eventually take back some of the land if action to build doesn’t take place. (Please contact me if you want to find out how to assist in donating money so that Habitat can continue to build in Ethiopia.)

Day Three: Gather splinted wood for the wall, saw to fit as necessary and hammer in place. In the afternoon we were to gather stones and smaller rocks for the foundation. (Note: Sawing even those skinny pieces of wood really put a burn in my bicep. I must work on that muscle more.)

Day Four: Apply chika on the interior and exterior of the wall and in the later half of the day compact the soil for flooring. (Note: I think chika day is everyone’s favorite activity. Who doesn’t like playing in mud? Aside from it making you itchy at times and the fleas on the work site I can toss chika around any day! Throw on the wall, pat into place and repeat until desired results are achieved. In regards to compacting the floor, let me tell you about the tool used to carry this one out. Think of a shovel handle placed into an empty can of what used contain beans and now filled with concrete. These are called, “pounders” or “compactors,” whichever you prefer. There wasn’t enough compacting work to go around for the entire team so some people stayed with the chika and some helped the homeowners carry stones for the foundation.)

Day Five: Make holes in the chika on the wall so that the mud can breathe and continue placing chika where needed. In the afternoon we worked on the toilet slab. (Note: Poking at wet mud sometimes makes a suction noise and can cause an eruption of giggles. An enormous amount of work goes into the toilet slab despite it just being a hole for one to squat over. In following tradition, we signed our team name in Amharic and English in the two toilet slabs we worked on. We will be remembered forever.)

Day Six: Fix mesh wire onto the exterior walls, finish mortar joints of foundations with cement and in the afternoon we painted gypsum on the interior. (Note: Painting was tough due to the smell. The glue that they boil for the gypsum made breathing the stuff in hard. Ack! Otherwise this day was business as usual.)

Day Seven: This was our final day of building. We continued with painting and assisting however we could. It was sad to know that the end of our work week was over.

In summary my team worked hard and developed relationships with the homeowners that worked beside them. They were an incredible group of people to have had the opportunity to lead and from them I have learned a lot that I hope will carry over into future builds to make me a better leader. But before I continue down that road, I must provide you the tales and photos below from our various other experiences on the work site.

Habitat Global Village programs are also about cultural exchanges. In Ethiopia, every woman on the GV team was required to make the daily coffee for the break. I had the opportunity of making coffee twice and even won the prize of best coffee (according to Julian). This was all too funny because I don’t even care to drink coffee. Tehe. Additionally there was a lot of dancing on DeLana’s part and the homeowners. We had the most amazing lunches prepared for us at the work site (yummy veggies, injera and sheep). We had one of the most fantastic welcome ceremonies and we were joined by priests and many members of the community. Although we did not build on entire house, we worked on every single part of the process over many different houses on the work site. In the end we dedicated seven houses to homeowners by giving them a key and a Bible. I’m sure I’m missing something, but oh well. I’ll save the small details to think of and giggle on my own.

I guess it is no real secret that I can’t wait to go back. Anyone want to join me?

*Photos included in slide shows come from all members of the team.*