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.
Dad tries his hand at pounding cassava in a traditional mortar and pestle ("iyanda") while he stays at the village.
