Eco-ikhaya Project

I am a final year social work student placed at Funda Nenja. Funda Nenja is a township dog training initiative located in Mpophomeni, KwaZulu Natal, South Africa. They have uniquely combined animal welfare with human welfare. The organization have identified a child-headed household consisting of 4 children living in extreme poverty.

As a final year social work student, I am required to complete a community project. When I heard the story and went to see the living conditions of these children, the youngest a little 10-year-old girl that did not even have a toy to play with - my mind was made up..... we building them a house!

But not any house, a house made from eco-bricks. Eco-bricks are made from compressed plastic in a 2-litre plastic bottle. Saving the environment had never been so cool and meaningful as it is now.

Please join me on this unique and exciting journey as we transform the lives of 4 special children and pass on the skills to the Mpophomeni community giving them the tools to build houses and build lives.

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Current living conditions

All four children are currently living in one room house made from mud and corrugated iron. The room contains a bed and two couches. Two sleep on the bed and a child on each couch. Between the bed and a couch stands an old two plate stove where they cook. The eldest child works to feed his siblings and the other three children are in school.

As a mother, I have daughters the same age. I cant imagine this life of hardship on them and the sense of innocents that is lost. My girls sit on their bedroom floor and play with their barbies, this child does not even have a toy. In my house cooking is a fun activity we do together (often in the form of cookies or cake) and not a chore they have to do daily just to survive, certainly not at the age of 10! I want to build her a house and give her the perfect little room a girl can dream of.

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What is an eco-brick?

An Ecobrick is a plastic bottle packed to a set density with used, clean and dry plastic to achieve a building block that can be used over and over again. Eco-bricks are used to make modular furniture, garden spaces, walls and even full-scale buildings.
Read more about eco-bricks at on the website https://www.ecobricks.org/what..

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Has an eco-brick building been done before?

Yes, there have been many eco-brick buildings that have been built around the world, the first eco-brick structure was built 23 years ago in Guatemala. In South Africa, Greyton in the Western Cape was one of the first eco-brick projects and they have built many structures, uplifting their community. Also in the suburb of Delft, Cape Town, an Early Childhood Development centre was built using reclaimed material including eco-bricks.

It has been done before very successfully and it will now be done in the township of Mpophomeni.

Hug it forward is an organisation working in Guatemala and they have built hundreds of structures using eco-bricks. They have created an open source manual which is what we will be following.

To see the process follow this link to https://hugitforward.org/how-w...

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Proposed design?

We have appointed Creative Blueprint Architects to design our house - the starting point of the project and work starts Monday, 3rd March 2019.

ITEM	COST	PROPOSED DATE
Architects	R8280.00	March
Foundation	R14000.00	May
Slab	R10000.00	June
Roof	R8000.00	July
Walls and other	R9270.00	August

*Donations can be made directly into the Funda Nenja bank account. If you do so please ensure you use the reference ECO and your name so they can allocate the funds to the building project.

Email: [email protected]
Cell phone: 061 467 6612

http://www.fundanenja.co.za/join-our-mission.html

*Donations in South Africa are tax deductible as the project is through and for Funda nenja where I am placed as a student social worker.

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