California Institute of Earth Art and Architecture (Cal-Earth)
Cal-Earth is a non-profit organization with a mission to educate the public in self-help, low cost, environmentally friendly architecture built with local materials. The organization is dedicated to helping people in underprivileged and disaster ridden areas of the world.
Together with the villagers, HS4S and Cal-Earth will tailor village designs to incorporate local craftsmanship to bridge the cultural gap between traditional grass houses and newly built earth houses. The earth houses consist primarily of local materials: sand, cement (one of the few industries in the Sudan), sandbags, and barbed wire. The end results are dwellings that are completely fireproof. The students at Cal-Earth have designed earth architecture schools for Darfur taking into consideration the environmental and cultural needs.
Nader Khalili, Cal-Earth’s founder, is the winner of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture in 2004.Sudanese Partners
Homes for Sudan aims to work together with Sudanese non governmental organizations that are already working on the ground. HS4S will help train local workers and engage in cultural and learning exchanges. A variety of charity organizations and NGOs are providing services for women, counseling, orphan care and schooling, and emergency food provisions.
HS4S has formed relationships with El Fashir University and Khartoum University. Khartoum University students have volunteered to help build a prototype house for the poor in Khartoum. HS4S is forging relationships with other Sudanese NGOs such as AFAG - to cooperate with building training, and Practical Action, an international NGO run by Sudanese who are working on environmentally safe housing in North Darfur. HS4S is part of the international group of IGOs and NGOs that are working on sustainable housing: Practical Action, UNEP, UN Habitat, the Community Development Fund, and the Joint Assessment Mission for Darfur. HS4S is working together with the FAO to share the earth technology for building reservoirs in Darfur. HS4S plans to continue training local Sudanese engineers, architects, and students to build with earth architecture.La Sierra University (SIFE - Students in Free Enterprise)
La Sierra University is the home of SIFE, a three times national championship student organization that plans and operates businesses for villages in Ethiopia, Mexico and Central America. It has won the world championship for projects such as the Welfare-to-Work Child Care Capacity Building Business Course. The school has developed computer-learning programs and donated thousands of computers for villages in Ethiopia as well as starting animal husbandry businesses in Ethiopia and South America. The SIFE students have started a prototype village on their campus and plan to partner with the University of California Riverside to develop agriculture plans for the Darfur villages.
