Text by Leanne Mitchell, Australian Red Cross.
Photos by Sujeewa de Silva, Australian Red Cross The tsunami that hit Sri Lanka three years ago was indiscriminate in its impact – people from all backgrounds were equally affected.

But while the tsunami’s impact knew no boundaries, for organizations like the Red Cross Red Crescent, building back required careful consideration. People with very different needs and expectations required houses with very different uses and functions. It was evident very early on that no one method would fit all.

‘Owner driven housing’ – an approach that closely involves home owners in the building process through the issuing of a series of small grants – has proven a huge success both for the International Federation and partner, UN Habitat, as well as for programme participants, says field coordinator Kefa Owino.

“Owner driven housing gives the resident the opportunity to decide what they want,” Owino says. “The donor doesn’t come with a standard design and say ‘this is what we are giving you’. Instead it works the other way. People have the freedom to build the house they want to their own taste.”

The International Federation is working with tsunami survivors, contributing to the building of more than 1,200 houses in Sri Lanka’s south and east. Each house built needs to meet minimum standards – such as having a bathroom, kitchen, a lockable room – after that owners can decide to follow standard building plans, adjust them or go with their own design.

Owners may decide to build the houses themselves or engage local contractors to do the job. Funds are released based on owners reaching agreed milestones along the way, such as completing the foundations, then the walls, then the roof, etc.

The beauty of this approach, says Australian Red Cross country coordinator, Barry Armstrong, is that it encourages individuality. “It is much more personalised than any other approach to rebuilding and people can bring their own character to the house, making it the right size and design to suit their own family and the people using it.

“While the houses being built are very different, one of the things they have in common is that people have used the funds provided to them as efficiently as possible – because the local people can get the best deals on materials and on labour. We have also seen them expressing their own character and own cultural background in different ways in different parts of the island.”

In Ampara district, on the island’s east coast, A.M. Fouze and his extended family are building the house of their dreams.

“Our family lost two houses when the tsunami hit…One was within 65 metres of the shoreline so we were not allowed to rebuild at that site. We are now building back on the site of our other house,” Mr Fouze explains, referring to the zone by the coast in which the government did not permit resettlement in order to protect the coastal environment.

The extended family will live in the four story home which is being finished off with intricate painting, plaster and woodwork. In fact, the whole area is abuzz with work. All around, owners, in this predominately Muslim neighbourhood, are putting the finishing touches to houses that are just as intricate as the Fouze family’s.

“We got the money we needed through instalments,” says Mr. Fouze. “We are local, so we know who the good people are to do the work…We got a local architect to draw up the plans and local masons to work on it.”

Further up the east coast, in Marnkerny, a Tamil community where the tsunami came on the heels of 20 years of conflict, Udhayakumar Subramaniyn and his wife are building their own house.

“My wife and I are building this house,” Mr Subramaniyn says. “I’m the mason and she is giving me a hand. I come from three generations of masons so it’s been easy for me to build this house.

“Here people are much better off than they were before. People in the community are getting help to improve their businesses and they are doing much better, farmers and fisherman. We are learning how to improve our yields.”

The Subramaniyn’s have enough space out the back of the house to raise goats, an extra business for the family.

“I am very happy to live here and I look forward to finishing my house and starting life again,” he says.

Near the southern city of Hambantota, another community has moved into their new village and houses and gardens are blooming. The people of Yodakandyia village, a Singhalese community, used to have seaside houses, but their new village is a few kilometres inland.

Many residents accepted the structural plans offered by the Red Cross Red Crescent and UN Habitat, but chose to add in their own touches. Sayuri Natasha lives with her husband in a neat green rendered house that is fitted with traditional wooden window frames. Sayuri tends to a flourishing garden which the family planted.

“UN Habitat gave us a floor plan and we had the freedom to design our own house and garden,” Sayuri says. “That’s why houses here have different styles. Now we have our own house according to our own wishes and we are very happy here.”

Owino says that it’s this kind of approach – fostering consultation and encouraging individual involvement – that makes the project so successful.

“It’s not just about building houses. People drive the process of rebuilding their own community. This to me is one of our most successful tsunami project because communities come together and people have a stake in building their own home. And at the end they can say ‘this is what I did.’”

source:

http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/YSAR-79VT8R?OpenDocument