JJ Sharpe Mexico

	MEXICO WORKSHOP In 1999 the Canelo Project in Arizona invited us, to lead lime workshops in Obregon, Mexico and south western Arizona. The Canelo Project is a small non-profit organization that promotes ecological building techniques, particularly straw bale constructions, clay plaster and sustainable building. The Project has close links with Save the Children Fund in Mexico and a women’s building project on the outskirts of the city of Obregon in North East Mexico in the Sonoran Desert. New plastered straw bale house All over the underdeveloped world, many people live in houses made from cardboard, corrugated iron and any material that can be found. These people have to endure extreme temperatures in unsuitable and poor housing. The Canelo Project taught a group of 12 women and their families to build their own one room straw bale homes. They help to build each other’s homes learning as they go. The one overriding impression one gets from this project is that it is enabling people to help themselves.		The lime slaking process at the Save the Children site near Obregon, Mexico Mira's new straw bale house


			The Project believes that it is important for impoverished people to learn as many different building skills as possible. There was a need for an understanding of the use and making of lime mortar. Lime mortar hand thrown (harled or scatted) onto a coat of mud plaster makes the ideal coating to protect the straw bale homes from water penetration, (there are flash floods and heavy rainfall even in the Sonoran Desert). We were invited by Bill & Athena Steen, the two directors of the Canelo Project, who wanted to persuade the Trustees of Save the Children Fund that the way forward is to improve the technical base and skill of people building their own houses. Our role was to give practical demonstrations and workshops in lime plastering and in the production of lime plasters and mortars.