Giving Back
Architecture magazine, Volume 92, Number 6, June 2003
A number of non-profits are gearing up for work in Iraq, among them Builders Without Borders (BWB), an international organization founded in 1999 with a North American base in New Mexico. With volunteers including architects, engineers, and contractors, as well as people not in the A/E/C field, BWB (www.BuildersWithoutBorders.org) specializes in affordable housing both domestically and abroad, emphasizing sustainable structures built with locally available materials. Current projects include affordable housing in Afghanistan, Israel, Mexico, South Africa, and a number of Native American communities in the United States. In Afghanistan, BWB is working with another group, Shelter for Life (SFL), which focuses on medium- to long-term shelter solutions for refugees and disaster victims abroad. SFL (www.shelter.org) has already built 9,000 houses in Afghanistan, with 30,000 more planned for Kabul. Generally, BWB provides technical assistance to improve designs, while SFL oversees construction and provides the labor. Since its founding in 1979 in Wisconsin by Christian volunteers, SFL has worked on infrastructure projects, emergency relief distribution, and community development in Afghanistan, Angola, Burundi, Honduras, Kosovo, India, Iraq, Pakistan, and Western Sahara. In the 1990s, the group constructed 10,000 houses in the heavily Kurdish region of northern Iraq before being forced to leave for safety reasons in 1996. Today, SFL volunteers are of all faiths and include architects, engineers, and those experienced in construction, as well as those with little experience.
BWB is an international network of ecological builders working together for a sustainable future.