Better Huts and Gardens

Over two years ago, Gina and Scott left their comfortable home on a tree lined street in Yakima, WA in pursuit of adventure and service.  In the process, they have made a home away from home in the remote Northwestern province of Zambia, taking advantage of local products and labor to create their eco-friendly dream. 

“In fact, it’s 100% locally sourced, even down to the small children who helped carry the bricks,” Gina reported.  When looking to improve their locally-made Peace Corps issued dwelling, Scott and Gina did their research by perusing 200 or so other mud huts in the area to find the improvements that would match their active outdoor lifestyle while maintaining an element of comfort.  The end result has been an eclectic fusion of village and modern style that local designer Muvwe Mutale calls “a move toward the way the world should go.”

I was lucky enough to tour Gina and Scott’s mud hut and surrounding outbuildings to understand more completely how the couple has utilized natural resources in an ecologically friendly way.  Upon entering, Scott said “Well, I’ve always been sort of eco-conscious, some would even call me an eco-nut, but Zambia has forced me to look at trash in a totally different way.  Where I used to see empty juice bottles, now I see windows.  An old cardboard box becomes a fantastic bookshelf.  I’ve tried to make everything flow seamlessly into the design and character of the house.”

Scott even used traditional grass material for his garden fencing, which was secured to tree posts with bush fiber instead of nails.  Many of the trees were hauled by young village boys from a nearby forest, eliminating the need for fossil fuel transport. Even better, the grass used for the fence replenishes itself every single year after the rainy season and enables the locals to clear their fields without burning.

The couple uses their extra bathwater for their vegetable garden irrigation strategically placed in optimum sunlight and a fresh layer of compost soil produced by 13 free-range hens that Gina and Scott use for eggs and meat.  “It’s fun having the village kids collect the chicken poop and then have it turn it into something green and usable,” Gina adds, “those plants just love that poop.”

Surprisingly enough, the entire compound is off-the-grid.  Scott states, “we realized we were 20 kilometers from the nearest power source, so we had to get creative.”  Small solar lanterns illuminate a strategically whitewashed wall in the evenings to enhance their effect.  “In fact, the combination of mud bricks and a grass roof brings protection from the cold and winds during cold season as well as the heavy rains during the rainy season.  It beats any commercial heating and cooling system by a factor of 3 without ever having to add electricity and besides, my wife keeps me warm at night.”

The open concept of the kitchen not only allows for beautiful views of Zambian sunsets between the trees, but also adequate ventilation of the cooking brazier, which uses 100% locally-sourced wood for its coals.  In addition, the small space doubles as a classroom, which Gina uses to teach young girls penmanship and coloring skills.  She exclaims, “it really is amazing that the open design of the kitchen can spark such creative knowledge.  This might just bring a new generation of kitchens.”  Furthermore, the stools are made from locally-sourced lumber covered with sustainable cow hides to create an ergonomically correct position for stirring cassava and maize porridge.  “We just may never cook standing up again.”

I was indeed able to test the ingenuity of Scott’s homemade bathhouse using a bucket of freshly-harvested rainwater from the back of the neighboring bike shed.  Although, it was heated to a comfortable temperature on the coal-fired brazier thanks to Gina’s ingenious cooking skills.  As I poured cupfuls of luxurious chemical-free water over my body and looked up on the starlight, I almost imagined I was transported back in time, back to the days where we didn’t need shower heads because everyone bathed outside.

I ended my tour with a beautiful tour of the chimbushi, otherwise known as self-contained flushless toilet that looked out on an enormous anthill.  As I read my magazine and then used the same page as toilet tissue (no need to worry about a septic tank), I realized that Gina and Scott were living the ecologically friendly minimalist’s dream.