Blog Post: Posted June 18, 2009, 7:01 am by Susan Romanski
The Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction — Day 4
It is always nice when things you are really interested in come together. Today, on day 4 of the Global Platform, two topics that came together for me were Sphere and disaster risk reduction.
Sphere is three things: a handbook to help those who are undertaking humanitarian action, a broad process of collaboration and an expression of commitment to quality and accountability. The project has developed several tools, the key one being a handbook which they are now revising to include disaster risk reduction.
Youth are naturally motivated by new challenges and can be great teachers when they're convinced something is important. Photo: Cassandra Nelson/Mercy Corps
This morning, I attended a consultatitive meeting on the handbook revision. In addition to the inclusion of disaster risk reduction, the handbook will also include important topics such as climate change adaptation and the environment. At the meeting, we were able to break out into small groups and discuss how we can improve the handbook to include these additions and the best ways to go about it. As usual, several Mercy Corps staff will be collaborate on the process with colleagues from other organisations. We are already active on many revision committees.
I have also been thinking a lot about how governments (and non-governmental organisations like Mercy Corps) are mainstreaming disaster risk reduction into their development platforms. There were several presentations by Asian governments at the Platform on the work they are doing to include it in various development sectors — particularly in health, education, agriculture, housing and infrastructure. It must be a difficult task for a government to get so many departments thinking and coordinating on preparedness and mitigation in their specialties if they don't already, but it's extremely crucial. It's very exciting that this work is being done.
Another session that was interesting to me featured two young people who had been working on disaster risk reduction in their communities. They were asked to share their experiences — their presentation confirmed to me the importance of getting youth involved in our disaster risk reduction programmes. And, in fact, they are usually at the centre of our programmes: examples include Central Asia, where we worked with young rescuers clubs, and in our recent programme in Nepal that uses youth mobilizers in the communities.
Youth relate well to different kinds of participatory and active methodologies, and they can be crucial in mobilizing their communities around preparedness activities. Photo: Nathan Golon for Mercy Corps
We have found that, when we work with youth, they are naturally motivated by new challenges and can be great teachers when they're convinced something is important. We have had the most success with youth when we have implemented activities like school competitions (in first aid and basic response) and dramas to share knowledge about disaster risk reduction. Youth relate well to these different kinds of participatory and active methodologies, and they can be crucial in mobilizing their communities around preparedness activities.
The disaster risk recovery and education session was moderated by the British journalist Martin Bell, who gave a plea to donors to focus more on children in disasters. Both the European Union and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) were on the panel and seemed to be committed to this.
In a later session, the discussion revolved around climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction. Despite funds and programmes being designated for climate change adaptation, there are many people who see it as one mitigation strategy under disaster risk reduction. In other words, disaster risk reduction focuses on reducing the risks of hazards in general, while climate change adaptation is a tool to reduce the risks of climate hazards in particular.
At Mercy Corps, we recognize that a community has many hazards and many of them will be exasperated by climate change. We also know that a community may have hazards that are not climate-related, and we must not forget these. We believe the most important thing is to have the community identify their hazards — including those that may arise from climate change — and support them to prepare and mitigate against these hazards by using adaptation, preparedness training, small infrastructure works, and/or a combination of whatever is needed and appropriate.
It's clear that, when the community is at the centre of our work and youth at the centre of our activites, we have the best chance of having an appropriate and energetic partnership.
Tomorrow will be the last day of the Platform and I look forward to sharing the main "take away" points with all of you.
Blog Post: Posted June 17, 2009, 3:37 pm by Laura Miller
Congo's "conflict charcoal"
Country: DR Congo
Kamwi Alphonse, 65, lives in the Bulengo displacement camp and makes charcoal primarily for his family, but occasionally sells it as well. He sells a plastic bag for 600 Francs — about a dollar. Photo: Miguel Samper for Mercy Corps
Most people have heard of conflict or "blood" diamonds, but fewer may be aware of conflict charcoal. The charcoal trade in Congo's North Kivu Province is primarily controlled by a long-standing rebel group. Much of the charcoal in Goma is produced from trees in Virunga National Park.
While in Goma recently, Balemba, an employee of the park service (ICCN), came to speak to Mercy Corps about activities in the park. The ICCN patrols the park regularly, both to protect the gorilla population, but also to discourage charcoal production in the park. Balemba works with communities that live on the borders of Virunga National Park and strives to find ways to increase revenue for the local population in an environmentally friendly way.
Currently it is common practice for communities to engage in the charcoal trade as a way to make money. As an alternative, the ICCN is distributing biomass briquette presses to local associations. The associations receive training on how to make the briquettes and are responsible for collecting the biomass (which includes dried grass, sawdust or paper) needed to make them.
One press can produce approximately 500 briquettes per day. The briquettes can be used to cook with and are a cleaner energy source than charcoal. Mercy Corps is currently distributing briquettes to 700 beneficiaries for use in fuel efficient stoves.
Balemba warned that while the briquettes are largely a positive development, there are negative consequences to offsetting the charcoal trade. Briquette presses may be destroyed by the rebels that control the charcoal trade, or community members may be forced to produce or transport charcoal for them.
As with most things in Congo, it's a complex situation.
Posted June 12, 2009 by Julisa Tambunan
Recycled Life
Country: Indonesia
Darpi (far left) and two colleagues collect household compost from the neighborhood, which they will carry to the composting centre for processing. Photo: Julisa Tambunan/Mercy Corps
Imagine living in a 215 square foot house that you split with your family of five, which happens to be an illegal settlement under a toll road with piles of waste that serve as your front yard. Sanitation problems, criminal activity, noise pollution and food insecurity are all part of your daily routine.
This has became the general situation in many neighborhoods in Jakarta, Indonesia, where slum areas and illegal settlements are scattered around and under any elevated toll road, particularly in the north part of the megapolitan city.
Life is "slow and hollow" to quote an area resident who declined to provide his name. In Hamlet 13 — one of the neighborhoods in Penjaringan, the largest slum area in Jakarta —nearly 800 households share this situation. The condition of the waste in this neighborhood is unbearable. On average, each household produces about two pounds of solid waste each day. The waste is mostly composed of organic material, three-fourths of which immediately carried off to the local dumpsites, resulting in hills and hills of waste as far as the eye can see.
But unlike some other slums, changes are coming fast round here.
A community cleans up
Darpi, a 56-year-old woman who’s been living in Penjaringan since the mid-1970s, has shown that things can improve. With Mercy Corps’ support, Darpi is managing a community-based solid waste management programme in her neighborhood.
The project collects solid waste from the entire neighborhood, which provides jobs for Darpi and three others. Waste is transported by carts to a communal processing site under the toll road. At the site, the organic material and recyclables are separated, then the refuse is sent on to the temporary dumpsite for collection by municipal services.
The organic material is processed into compost, packaged and sold in the local market. The whole process takes place under the toll road, inside a 3,000 square foot space that the community named Rumah Kompos — the Composting House.
“It feels more like recycling my life for better purpose than recycling waste for better use”, Darpi said, smiling, “Rather than sitting in my cramped house and doing nothing, I’m doing this for my self and the community. I am used to the smells anyway because I’ve been living here for such a long time. So it’s not even a problem.”
In a period of less than two years since it first started in the end of 2007, Rumah Kompos has doubled its space to 6,350 square feet to expand its activity. The previous processing capacity of a little less than one ton of organic waste each month will expand to approximately six tons of organic waste per month due to the expansion.
Recognition, praise and possibility
The expanded Rumah Kompos was just recently launched by Mercy Corps Indonesia’s Country Director, Sean Granville-Ross, in a ceremony that was also attended by the Deputy Mayor of North Jakarta , Atma Sanjaya.
“I’m very pleased to see how the community could benefit from the sluggish space under the toll road," the Deputy Mayor commented.
Up to now, Rumah Kompos has collected and treated more than 33,500 pounds of organic solid waste and produced more than 1,470 pounds of compost. The use of compost for home plantings to make the environment more aesthetically pleasing and healthy provides a good motivation for residents to separate waste and compost.
Mercy Corps is now exploring the options of an agreement with the Provincial Landscape Department to make Rumah Kompos one of the preferred suppliers for the agency’s fertilizer needs across the city.
Today, under Penjaringan's toll road, life is bustling and more exciting than it has ever been before.
Blog Post: Posted June 4, 2009, 12:29 pm by Mary Tam
Riding the green wave
Topics: Environment, Climate Change
Children carrying firewood in the sprawling Buhimba displacement camp near Goma, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Photo: Linda Mason for Mercy Corps
Last night, in my sustainability class, we read a case study on Kimpton hotels' EarthCare programme. As we discussed the various benefits and challenges of green programmes, I couldn’t help but be proud of the numerous contributions Mercy Corps is making towards the eco-conscious movement.
Harnessing innovation and community engagement, Mercy Corps has created programmes that benefit both the environment and some of the world’s most vulnerable populations.
In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mercy Corps has constructed 20,000 fuel-efficient stoves for families that have been displaced by violence. The stoves reduce firewood consumption by 57-71 percent. Additionally, the decreased need for fuel creates a safer environment for women and children, who are often vulnerable to assault while gathering firewood.
Solar water heaters, biodiesel from cooking oil, green latrines, forestry projects, hydro-electric energy…these are all Mercy Corps projects that are increasing sustainability and improving the quality of life for thousands of people. Who would have thought that boutique hotels and international nonprofits had so much in common?
Blog Post: Posted January 23, 2009, 3:08 pm by Roger Burks
Inside the Green Rope
Country: DR Congo
Women wait behind the green rope for their turn to be called to collect firewood. Photo: Roger Burks/Mercy Corps
It's firewood distribution day here in Buhimba Camp. Hundreds of women, most of whom are elderly, have lined up to wait their turn. A green rope goes up along the perimeter of the wood yard where the distribution will take place.
About a dozen people — camp residents hired by Mercy Corps to help out with the distribution — are busy taking wood from a huge pile and arranging it into parcels of two or three logs. They are meticulous about this task, making sure that one parcel doesn't look significantly bigger than the others. After all, these are the wood rations that will last each displaced family for the next few days, and fairness is paramount.
Furaha Maombi, 32 years old and the mother of five young children, is among those helping Mercy Corps in today's distribution. She fled a rebel attack on her village and, with her family in tow, walked more than a day to get here. That was more than a year ago. Since then, nearly all the trees have been cut from the once-forested hillsides that surround the camp — tinder for the stoves of more than 13,000 people.
Furaha Maombi, 32, stands amidst the firewood she is helping distribute to camp residents. Photo: Roger Burks/Mercy Corps
One of the reasons for providing wood to the residents of Buhimba and camps like it is to keep families from harvesting wood from nearby Virunga National Park, habitat for some of the world's only surviving mountain gorillas. Mercy Corps brought this wood from a town south of here on Lake Kivu. It was chopped and collected from sustainable wood sources such as acacia and eucalyptus plantations, taken by boat across the lake, then trucked a short distance to the camp.
Provision of firewood is a short-term solution to a precarious situation. Not only does the status quo threaten Virunga National Park, but when women travel long distances to get wood, they often fall prey to rape and other violence along the way. These distributions, combined with wood-efficient cookstoves and tree nurseries for reforestation, protect both women and the environment.
Mercy Corps field assistant Mamy Muvughe (right) calls out names to step inside the green rope to come collect their firewood ration. Photo: Roger Burks/Mercy Corps
At 10 a.m., the distribution begins. Mamy Muvughe, a Mercy Corps field assistant for this camp, begins calling out names. "Maria Konga ... Mohinda Kasheka ... Nira Kabanga," she shouts. Then a young man yells out each name again to make sure it's heard.
When their name is called, each woman bends under the green rope and enters the wood yard. The first three women walk with canes. They come and stand by the small piles of wood — which average 15 pounds — that they will take home.
After all 10 names for the first group of women have been called, they simultaneously stoop, pick up their firewood, tie it on their backs or place it on their heads, and then exit back under the green rope.
Camp residents stand next to their assigned piles of firewood after their names are called. Photo: Roger Burks/Mercy Corps
The next group is called. One especially elderly woman tries to pick up her pile before the others. Furaha asks her to wait. A bit of an argument ensues, but the old woman's friends calm her down. There must be order and procedures, but also dignity and respect — and that's not easy in a situation like this.
As this group bends to pick up their firewood, an old woman with a very crooked back is having trouble. Furaha rushes to help the woman, then proceeds to carry it all the way home for her.
The spaces that have been emptied are now being filled with new stacks of firewood. In all, 500 families will be served today. That amounts to more than 7,500 pounds of wood. And there's another distribution scheduled for Monday.
Furaha and the others who helped today will receive £18 She has been chosen by a camp committee based on need; the ones selected were especially poor when they arrived here or can't find work. In another 10 days, her rotation will be over and more camp residents will fill those jobs for a chance to earn precious income.
Four hours after it began, the distribution is over. The green rope comes down and the area clears of crowds.
Soon, there's the distinct — and very African — scent of cookfires. And despite the daily hells of life in eastern Congo, for a moment it smells like home.
Reinterpreting Tea Leaves:
Posted April 10, 2008 by Roger Burks
Buzzing with Cosmic Energy
Country: India
Photo: Thatcher Cook for Mercy Corps
I sensed, right away, that Rajah Banerjee had something to tell us. It was in the measured way he carried himself, the arch of his eyebrows and the calculating glance he cast across the room. What's more, I immediately got the feeling that he would test me to see what I knew.
And I was right. Within a couple minutes of sitting down in his office at the Makaibari Tea Estate, the estate's owner — and one of Mercy Corps' most ardent supporters in India's Darjeeling District — made his move.
"Why do we mulch?" he asked succinctly, as cups of fresh, steaming Darjeeling tea were placed in front of each person in the room. I wasn't sure how to answer. Should I demonstrate my own knowledge or defer to his? I mistakenly chose the latter.
"Well, I'm not really sure," I offered, hesitantly.
"Your friend is either stupid or cunning," he said to Thatcher Cook, the photographer who accompanied me on the trip.
"Actually, he's a little of both," Thatcher grinned.
"Landscaping, weed control, topsoil building," I blurted out.
"Good. And don't forget erosion control," Banerjee reminded me. "After all, healthy soil means healthy mankind." Then he smiled, raised a cup of the estate's Silver Tips tea and toasted our delegation.
I'd played into his game.
History, harmony and compassionate leadership
"Here at Makaibari, we are looking for flavour in the balance sheet of life," Banerjee explained, trying subtly to ascertain our reaction to his award-winning tea. "Shall I tell you how we work to achieve it?"
I nodded. We all did, in fact. So he continued.
Photo: Thatcher Cook for Mercy Corps
Makaibari, he told us, was the first tea factory in this part of the world. It was completed in 1859. In fact, some of the 150-year-old machinery is still used to process tea today. The 1574-acre estate is also the only tea plantation to have never been owned by a British citizen; it has been in Indian hands for more than four generations.
But even the estate's rich history pales in comparison to its dynamic present: In 1988, it became the first tea garden in Darjeeling to be certified organic. Then, two years later, it pioneered the use of biodynamic agriculture in the area. Finally, in 1997, it was recognized by the World Wildlife Fund for its commitment to integrating tea plantations with existing forestlands. In fact, two-thirds of Makaibari is covered with trees.
"There are two acres of virgin subtropical rainforest here for every one acre of cultivated tea," Banerjee told us. "Connectivity to the trees will save us."
While harmony between work and environment is central to life at Makaibari, it's respect and understanding between its people that makes it such a special place. As with almost any bond between owner and employee, the relationship between tea estate management and workers in Darjeeling can be strained. In recent years, labour disputes on some tea estates have led to factory shutdowns and even violence.
Banerjee has largely avoided such issues by keeping in constant dialogue with Makaibari's workers — from managers to tea pluckers. He holds regular meetings — "joint bodies," he calls them — to discuss matters from forest management to children's education to the current tea crop to healthier living conditions for families.
"Makaibari is a way of life, not just a tea garden," he explained.
And that compassionate, collaborative leadership has created a natural partnership between Banerjee and Mercy Corps.
Small business and stinging nettles
I know it might sound like I've been unduly influenced by too much good tea and swayed by platitudes, but I'm by no means the only believer in Banerjee's lofty visions.
"Thunderbolt Rajah — that guy's a character," said John Strickland, Mercy Corps' Northeast India Director, of Banerjee. "He's a legend around these hills. And there's no bigger champion for Mercy Corps."
Banerjee is not only an environmental pioneer in this area, but a social entrepreneur. He has given Mercy Corps' Community Health and Advancement Initiative (CHAI) programme staff unfettered access to the seven tea garden communities on the Makaibari estate, and provided financial and other resources for Mercy Corps' work here. He's been instrumental in building improved roads for villages, bringing reliable electricity to the tea worker villages and creating a library for the area's children.
Photo: Thatcher Cook for Mercy Corps
One of the most recent projects is a small packaging business located in one of the estate's villages. Here, women are able to supplement their family incomes by turning sheets of local artisan paper from the Manokamana Handmade Paper Factory — another Mercy Corps-supported initiative — into beautiful packaging for Makaibari's organic teas. Banerjee has supported the project in a number of ways, including placing an initial order for 72,000 packages.
Banerjee believes that small businesses, fostered by the relationship between tea estates and organisations such as Mercy Corps, can go a long way toward improving the prospects of tea estate residents mired in poverty.
"Sustainability is the road to freedom," he said. "It's a win-win situation."
Then, suddenly, it was back to the hot seat for me.
"Have you heard of biodynamics?" Banerjee asked, furtively searching my eyes.
"No," I answered, remembering my skewering over why we mulch.
"Then, once again, you've come to the right place!" he exclaimed.
And that's how I came to know how about Rudolf Steiner, an Austrian philosopher and scientist, and the founding of biodynamic agriculture. Banerjee adheres to Steiner's principles, using such diverse ingredients as yarrow flower, stinging nettle, rainwater tea and quartz in preparations to unify and balance Makaibari's soil. It sounded strange to me, but the proof is in the profit: the Silver Tips tea I was drinking recently sold for almost £780 a kilogram at auction in Japan.
"With biodynamics, you have actually made an inert mass alive," Banerjee instructed. "The land now vibrates with energy."
I was definitely buzzing from the tea and conversation.
Soon, it was time to leave Makaibari and move onto our next destination in India: Assam. But, in those last few moments near Darjeeling's oldest tea factory, I came to appreciate the interconnectedness between Banerjee, his workers, Mercy Corps and the land on which we stood.
Posted March 14, 2008 by Anna Clarkson
Turning Trash into Cash
Country: Ethiopia
Tafessu Jiru, 35, has gone from unemployment to a managerial position in an environmentally-friendly start-up business funded by Mercy Corps. Photo: Cathy Ratcliff/Mercy Corps Ethiopia
As a single mother with a 13-year-old son, Tafessu Jiru doesn't have a lot of kitchen scraps coming from her household. Most everything is put to prudent use.
But a little bit of garbage goes a long way in Akaki Kaliti, an impoverished neighborhood in Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa. When you add the scraps from Tafessu's kitchen to those from the kitchens of her friends, it turns into quite a pile.
A pile of money, that is.
With support from Mercy Corps and a local organisation called Women in Self-Employment (WISE), Tafessu and some of her neighbors are finding a way to transform potato skins and fruit peels into fuel. They are one of five female-led Savings and Credit Cooperatives who are not only pulling their families out of poverty, but also helping save the environment by creating and selling alternative fuel briquettes.
Determination despite difficulty
Nothing has ever come easily for Tafessu, but she's struggled hard nonetheless to find a better life. After starting school at a late age and repeating two class levels during her education, she finally graduated from high school at the age of 24. Not long after that, she lost her first job at a local coffee-processing factory — leaving her to scramble for odd jobs to support her young son.
Now 35, she lives with her son, parents, two sisters and a nephew in a 324-square-foot room in a gritty part of Addis Ababa. The extended family scraped by on Tafessu's mother's pension until Tafessu learned about an international organisation helping Ethiopian women set up their own businesses: Mercy Corps.
Members of a women's Saving and Credit Cooperative meet to discuss business plans. Photo: Cathy Ratcliff/Mercy Corps Ethiopia
She received her first loan nine months ago and quickly turned that money into a successful business selling supplies to local beekeepers. Tafessu was able to bring in a modest profit to buoy her family, as well as pay her loan back ahead of schedule.
This burgeoning business acumen caught the attention of Mercy Corps and WISE, who were beginning a new programme to not only raise the fortunes of poor Ethiopian families but also protect the country against accelerating climate change.
Innovation becomes opportunity
The idea of turning organic household waste into fuel briquettes for home cooking and heating had been explored for some time by the Ethiopian Government, in collaboration with international organisations. But the dream of coming up with a successful business model had not been realized. Scientifically these briquettes have been proven to burn just as well as wood charcoal with less smoke and, of course, no dependency on already-scarce wood supplies.
The only raw materials necessary to their manufacture are various organic waste products such as food scraps. The process itself is simple: the organic material is slowly burned over the course of a few days, then put through a mill to produce a fine dust. That dust is then mixed with clay and water in a special machine called an agglomerator, which produces the actual briquettes.
The briquettes look and burn much like conventional charcoal, but give off less smoke and rely on household waste products rather than trees. Photo: Cathy Ratcliff/Mercy Corps Ethiopia
Mercy Corps identified this potential economic development opportunity in mid-2007 and, that December, launched a new programme to help female entrepreneurs manufacture fuel briquettes and manage six small businesses. This programme was capitalized by £30,000 from Mercy Corps' Phoenix Fund, which raises private seed money from socially conscious investors to begin innovative small projects in places where aid money is typically hard to come by.
With this funding, Tafessu and 29 other low-income women are receiving the training, equipment and support they need to start environmentally aware businesses that will provide an affordable, climate-friendly product to households in some of Addis Ababa's poorest neighbourhoods.
The long-term goal of the project is that the business activities of these 30 women will succeed and expand, leading to more job opportunities for citizens of Addis Ababa — a city with a self-reported unemployment rate around 40 percent. More immediately, the programme is striving to provide participants with a sustainable income of about £1,095 per year, which is a considerable improvement over the dollar a day that many people here earn.
Owing much to her own perseverance and vibrant personality, Tafessu has been named the manager for her small six-woman business. It won't be easy; these women will depend on each other for everything as their enterprise gets underway and goes through inevitable growing pains. But Mercy Corps staff members, as well as her own peers, believe Tafessu is up to the job.
"I hope that my work will give hope to other women and set an example of how they can improve their current situation," Tafessu says. "My dream is for our new business to be a huge success so that I can support my entire family and make my son proud of his mother."
Posted October 30, 2007
Video: Deconstruction Documentary
Country: United States
Topics: Economic Development, Environment
This brief video documentary, created by Justin Valls for Adobe Productions, was filmed during Mercy Corps' Flight of Friendship to New Orleans in April 2007. It discusses and demonstrates deconstruction, a practice by which houses are taken apart to preserve materials. This approach conserves salvageable building materials while protecting the environment and creating living-wage jobs.
Posted October 12, 2007
Mercy Corps Congratulates Gore, UN on Prize
Topics: Environment
Mercy Corps congratulates Al Gore and the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change on winning the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize.
Mercy Corps was nominated for the prestigious award in February by Oregon Congressman Earl Blumenauer in recognition for the agency's diverse and creative work in helping individuals to combat disasters, conflicts, chronic poverty and instability throughout the world. Congressman Blumenauer has been a longtime and steadfast supporter of Mercy Corps' work.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee announced today that the 107-year-old prize would this year be shared between the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and Former Vice President Gore "for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change.
"Mercy Corps wholeheartedly congratulates Al Gore and the UN's climate change panel for winning the Nobel Peace Prize," said CEO Neal Keny-Guyer. "Their outstanding work to alert people to climate change — a phenomenon that impacts the lives of so many people in the developing world — has been very justly rewarded by this achievement."
Mercy Corps recently launched an initiative to assess the impact of climate change in communities in which we already work. Through a partnership with the University of Edinburgh, we're identifying ways vulnerable populations in certain areas — including Niger, Mongolia and Indonesia — can both adapt to climate change and take advantage of job growth in new, climate-friendly economic sectors.
Mercy Corps also recently measured its global carbon footprint as part of its commitment to making its operations carbon neutral.
"It was a great honor for Mercy Corps to be nominated for the world's premier award for humanitarian work, and we are delighted that the impact of our work was recognized," Keny-Guyer added.
The Nobel Peace Prize will be presented in Oslo on December 10.
Posted August 16, 2007
Building By Dismantling
Country: United States
Topics: Environment, Economic Development
Rick Denhart, Mercy Corps' New Orleans-based Director of Gulf Coast Hurricane Recovery, has been in construction - and deconstruction - all his life. He started his vocation as a child apprenticing with his father - a builder - who taught him how to take things apart and redo them. By the time he reached high school, he was building new homes.
After college, he moved to the Middle East where he gained a wide range of experience building small cities, and also seeing how local craftsmen drew from limited resources just as they had for thousands of years. Upon returning to the Pacific Northwest, he went into business for himself renovating old warehouses into new retail and living spaces while using as much of the old materials as possible.
Then, a life-altering opportunity came about: a local museum design firm asked Denhart to manage the building of the museum exhibitry for the Warm Springs Native American community. Once again, he was working with a culture that was thousands of years old, with a strong tradition of reusing materials and a conscious awareness of nature's fragile balance.
From the Warm Springs people, Denhart came to rethink what "artifacts" are important in a community. He began to recognize how to connect generations with simple things like an old window frame, a battered doorknob or wainscoting from decaying buildings.
Today, as the leader of Mercy Corps' programmes in New Orleans, he's helping hurricane survivors learn and build on those same lessons.
Mercy Corps: In layman's terms, what exactly is deconstruction?
Rick Denhart: Deconstruction is the dismantling of buildings by hand for maximum reuse of materials. But the best definition I've heard comes from a local resident and client who describes deconstruction as "removing the house with dignity: board by board, brick by brick."
How did Mercy Corps become involved with deconstruction in New Orleans?
Portland, Oregon is a major centre for deconstruction. Since Mercy Corps is headquartered there, it was a natural connection to make.
Photo: Caitlin Carlson/Mercy Corps
When did you first go to the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina, and what were the circumstances?
I first came here in November 2005. At the time, I was directing Deconstruction Services for Portland's ReBuilding Centre. Mercy Corps asked us to come down and meet with some local contractors and the Green Project to evaluate the possibility of using deconstruction for the disaster recovery programme.
How many houses have been deconstructed so far, and how were those houses identified?
About a dozen houses directly from Mercy Corps donations; altogether, local contractors have deconstructed an additional 56 structures with our technical support. We are now dismantling the fourth of 15 houses in a pilot project that will document labour use and the value of the material salvaged. All 15 are scheduled to be deconstructed by the end of the year.
How do the homeowners of the deconstructed houses feel about the process?
This is something we want to know more about, and so we are looking into commissioning a research study to address this exact point. In the meantime, it appears to us that they are happy and relieved for the process. It puts them back in control of their property, and it gives them a chance to get back precious things as well as contribute to helping others - those working on the projects as well as those who will ultimately receive the materials.
What were the specific benefits to those homeowners?
The immediate benefits are allowing them some closure to the trauma of the disaster, retaining some of their sentimental as well as valuable personal items, and allowing them to nourish their community by contributing rebuilding materials. It also helps preserve the collective memory of the neighborhood and city by offering recognizable artifacts for new structures.
What are the biggest challenges to a larger-scale deconstruction project in New Orleans?
Just as it is for any other business, our challenge is having a workforce available to do it. People need places to live in order to work locally. People need jobs to live locally. And those are two big challenges in today's New Orleans. The majority of the deconstruction workforce does not have to be highly skilled, but they do need basic safety equipment and training along with standard construction knowledge.
We also need a market for all the materials we get. If we do 1,000 houses, that's a lot of materials generated. We need to develop material depots in addition to those that are here already. These are opportunities as well as challenges.
In addition, deconstruction is not widely accepted yet in the consumer culture here or anywhere in the United States. We are coming into a culture that certainly has kept architectural artifacts for reuse, but it will still require a shift in its cultural norms to accept used building materials for everyday needs.
What is your favorite story about deconstruction in New Orleans?
The most amazing experience happened in the first house we did. The family had lost hope that they would have anything left before we came onto the scene. It was a touching moment when one of the deconstruction workers handed the homeowner her grandfather's World War I army photo. The owner was overwhelmed; we all were.
The owner of the house also had an auto repair shop connected to the house. We were able to retrieve many of the tools that were the livelihood of this family. They thought they were not recoverable, but now they can once again use their screwdrivers and socket wrenches salvaged from the debris.
In the 7th Ward, there is a home waiting in the queue for deconstruction that was built by a founding member of the neighborhood church. The material from this house will go into the renovation of the church, to connect the future generations to their founders from early in the last century. But even when we deconstruct a still-standing house with all the personal goods removed, the owners and neighbors are amazed at the reusable materials stacking up like new on the flatbed truck.
What is the most interesting object or architectural feature you've come across during deconstruction in New Orleans?
We've found two pairs of narrow French screen doors buried under several layers of materials. They were down in the crawl space, and we didn't find them until the entire house was deconstructed and the floors and joists were taken out. The owner had put them there decades ago planning to install them, but never got around to it.
They were in excellent shape, a fine example of detailed craftsmanship in wood layering and mortise work. The balance and proportion of design and wood craftsmanship was stunning. They were perfectly square and solid with original paint only needing a light sanding and coat of paint even after having been tossed aside and then buried under a house that had floated off its foundation.
What does the near future hold for Mercy Corps' deconstruction programme?
This programme has the potential to launch a vocational/educational initiative to train workers who understand deconstruction and its value to not only this city, but also to the wider country.
Mercy Corps is poised to guide New Orleans to lead the nation in this work.
Like us on Facebook ›
Sign up for email updates ›
Follow us on Twitter ›