Sustainably constructed homes to support child headed families.

HYT have been working in the area Ngora to build huts using the ISSB bricks for child headed families. A child headed family is where the children have been orphaned and a child becomes the main income earner for the family. HYT started this program with Edith’s Home in November 2019 and since then have built 3 out of the 15 huts agreed to be built. They are being built by 5 HYT graduates along with the aid of an HYT manager. The graduates began their training in March 2019 and completed the course in June that year. The hope is once the 15 huts have been built, the 5 graduates will be able to build the houses independently as they will have an understanding of management and accounting. Edith’s Home have been working in tandem with HYT by funding the 15 huts which aim to cost under £1000 each to construct. This one in particular is for Okelo and the rest family.

Okelo and his family’s home which had been built 2 days ago

We interviewed Okelo who is the homeowner aged 19 and the head of his family. He expressed how before the hut was built, his standard of living was very poor. They lived in a hut which relied on grass straw for the roof, which proved to be very problematic. The grass is not only very difficult to find, but it also requires constant maintenance in the wet season in order to stop the water leaking into their hut. On top of this termites are a constant pest as they eat away at the grass straw roofing, leading to the hut being more susceptible to the rain, making leaks more likely. Many others continue to go through the same turmoil that Okelo and his family once knew.

The family’s previous home

Since the completion of his new home, Okelo tells us how he is now able to sleep well. He feels he can be more productive during the day and that now his future looks brighter. Okelo explains how in the past, he could only hope of a home such as this, but now his dream has become reality.

Okelo and his family standing proudly in front of their new home

Since the HYT huts are not using grass roofs, and instead corrugated metal, water can run down and flow into gutters which pass into a plastic container. Okelo tells us he will use this water for washing, bathing and even drinking. This is vital as it means the younger children are able to go to school, instead of spending their day going back and forth to the borehole for water. The container provided will also act as a useful tool for carrying water from boreholes in the dry season, as many lack a container this size.

A tub that is used to collect rain water which falls down from the roof of the house into the gutters.

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Winners of the Ashden International Award for Sustainable Buildings 2017.

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