Posted on: Friday, April 1, 2005

Mock slum places focus on global housing crisis

By Sharon Stangenes
Chicago Tribune

AMERICUS, GA. — Local residents brag that poverty housing has been eliminated in this rural county, so it's ironic that one of the newest attractions in town is a re-creation of some of the world's worst slum housing.

Rickety huts constructed of mud and cast-off corrugated metal, plastic, burlap and bamboo line a winding, narrow path at the Global Village & Discovery Center, a kind of housing theme park just a few blocks from the center of town.

Americans may worry about "affordable" housing, but much of the world is more worried about basic shelter, a fact dramatized at the village built by Habitat for Humanity International, based here.

"We wanted to be able to impress people in the importance of the mission," said Michelle Dalva, executive director of the 6-acre global village. "It's a new way to get people involved in eliminating poverty."

Surrounding the Living in Poverty slum housing exhibit are houses, modest by American standards, but typical of those built for poor people by Habitat volunteers in countries ranging from Mexico to New Guinea.

There are now 15 dwellings, most from Africa, Asia and Central America. All have different building styles and each is environmentally and culturally appropriate for its location.

Officials plan eventually to expand the number of homes to 35 with examples from regions of Europe and South America.

There is also a Marketplace Center with theater, galleries, store and exploration center, as well as an area for demonstrations of brick making, roof-tile casting, stone construction and wood milling.

More than 29,000 people have visited the center since it opened in June 2003.

"We are attracting people who know less and less about Habitat," said Dalva, noting the exhibit is drawing people beyond the group's core supporters.

One of a number of organizations tackling poverty housing and homelessness, Habitat for Humanity is a non-profit ecumenical Christian group which counts among its volunteers former President Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, who grew up and live 10 miles from Americus in Plains, Ga.

Supporters of the village hope it will become one of the attractions along with Carter's boyhood farm and Andersonville National Monument, site of the Civil War prison, in southwest Georgia.

To draw attention to the need, Carter has led major volunteer efforts abroad — last year in Mexico — and in the United States. He and his wife will head a Jimmy Carter Work Project with 4,000 volunteers in June in Benton Harbor, Mich., and Detroit.

One billion people, nearly a quarter of the world's population, live in poverty housing or go without housing altogether, according to Habitat estimates.

The global village, built with donations specifically for the project, is an attempt to impress the international need — and the affordable solutions — on more Americans.

The mock slum represents the "kind of urban poverty that can be found in Africa, South American and Asia," Dalva said.

It takes a lot of work to keep huts in the exhibit from disintegrating, a problem not unlike the effort slum dwellers must make to maintain their minimal shelters, Dalva said.

The exhibit's huts are sparsely furnished with a mat on the floor, a stool perhaps, a few bowls for cooking or eating.

For those who live in such hovels, Dalva said the threat of collapse, fire and disease is constant.

The surrounding houses in the village are shown as alternatives to such inadequate shelter. A sign by each house identifies the country in which it is built and the approximate construction cost.

The median cost of an 1,100-square-foot Habitat home built in the United States is $53,000. In contrast, the most expensive house in the global village is a compact Mexican home, which is 500 square feet and costs $7,000, less than the cost of some high-end kitchen ranges in the United States.

The Mexican cottage has electricity, indoor plumbing, a tiny, separate kitchen and glass windows — all elements that make it among the luxury dwellings in this compound.

The keys to affordable housing are low-tech construction techniques and plentiful local materials, Dalva said. Wood, at least for the countries in this exhibit, is not a common building material and is used sparingly in doors, shutters, maybe framing.