Help with the rebuild

As many of you know, the North coast of Ecuador was hit by a devastating earthquake in April. We would like to thank all of you who showed your support by calling, sending emails and giving donations, and this message is to provide all of our past volunteers and visitors with an update on how we are doing since the disaster.

This whole area was affected quite badly. Canoa is beginning to recover and government-financed houses are under construction. Tourism is returning to Canoa however reconstruction will take quite a while. Bahia on the other hand is still a ghost town the people were shaken by severe losses of infrastructure. Many businesses have moved to nearby towns, or simply closed.

Aside from a steady flow of international volunteers, we have had a lot of help from Ecuadorian volunteers and a German volunteer organization called “Casa del Mundo”. We are, slowly but surely, progressing well.

We have also been really busy with overseeing and coordinating the reconstruction of houses in the community. We have secured a number of houses from organizations such as “Hogar de Cristo”, “Miduvi” and “Bomberos sin Fronteras de España”.

Rio Muchacho has been a leader in change, implementing and teaching construction with bamboo. This natural material has proven to be a shock-resistant and dependable, if treated properly. Since the earthquake we have held two bamboo construction workshops, which brought to light the beauty and strength of working with bamboo, as well as the proper way to build resilient homes and structures. As part of the donation from Cloud Base Foundation, the community recently constructed a bamboo treatment plant so the material for reconstruction can be treated for longevity.

The families in the community who will receive houses are now seeing the start of the demolition phase, so the area can be cleared for their new house. Construction will begin soon.

As some of you know, the environmental school was no longer functioning as a primary school, but we were still using it for extracurricular classes up until the earthquake. Unfortunately a family that had lost their house invaded the school and used the structures for their dwellings. We will not be able to use this space for the community anymore so we are considering creating an alternative structure here at the farm, which can be used for meetings, classes, workshops and a playground for the local kids.

Also in the field of new developments, we have begun planning to re-create Rio Muchacho Organic Farm as an organic-farm park, which will make the farm and surrounding nature more accessible to Ecuadorians and families. As part of the eco-farm park we will be building a vibrant information center so that our self-guided guests can have a complete introduction to the farm.

As we have been tied up with the community, our own reconstruction has been delayed. Here at the farm we also had a lot of damage and with the help of our wonderful workers and volunteers, we are having to reinforce or reconstruct 13 out of 16 of our buildings, as well as the Canoa office (and ecopaper workshop) which was totally flattened. Just recently, we finished dismantling the main house which many of you surely remember as being center of activity, meetings, planning and our life. The dismantling was sad but made quite festive, with several volunteer groups and music and great food in the evenings. Special thanks to those who helped with the demolition process!

Although the house withstood the earthquake well, we decided that reinforcement is important and therefore decided to start from scratch. Of course, we haven’t used the main house since the earthquake, and you all must be wondering where we have been eating and cooking. Surprise… we turned the craft workshop into a nice, open-air kitchen, and people have enjoyed it so much that we are considering making it our permanent kitchen. The new main house, instead, will be a single-floor relaxation space with hammocks, sofas and our book exchange and library.

Thinking about reconstruction has been overwhelming as the price tag is daunting, so we have decided to set up another crowdfunding campaign and we will be very grateful for any contributions you can make to our reconstruction fund. Even though we plan to use mostly natural materials which grow in the lowlands, there is now so much demand for these materials as more and more people become aware of their utility, that prices have risen and the experts in working with Bamboo are now much in demand.