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The Production of Houses by Christopher Alexander

Here is the link to the book at Amazon. If someone in Uganda wants the book I'll send my copy or would send it to Linda. I probably would try to replace the book with a used copy somewhere.

Back in the mid-seventies, when I first went to college, I became very dissatisfied with approaches to social science, in particular psychology. Not really prepared for college, I was doing really poorly, but trying to come up with an approach to studies which made sense to me. What's very important in study is to be committed enough to ideas to see them through. While I'm hardly very organized in anything, much less my thinking, the position that I roughed out while I was failing out of school is in the constructivist camp. Four books were very important to me at the time:

Values and Teaching by Louis Raths.

Steps to an Ecology of Mind by Gregory Bateson

Design for the Real World by Victor Papanek

The Oregon Experiment by Christopher Alexander.

All of these books led me to other books and study. It's probably of little use to put what books I liked when I was a young student. The reason for it is because in many ways “The Production of Houses” is a book which contains theory even while much of the book is quite practical. And the theories of Christopher Alexander seem to fit with other theories which I've studied and found viable. Many people disagree with the sorts of conglomerations of theories along the lines that I'm committed to. Sometimes it saves time when people disagree to know a little of the direction each are coming from.

Christopher Alexander is an architect who makes the case that the structures we build make a big difference in the way we live our lives and feel about our experience of life. Some architecture makes us feel more alive and so he has spent his career trying to identify the ways to make buildings which make us feel more alive. Alexander often finds fault with the way that buildings are made, and the fault lies in the way we think, in our ideas.

Alexander believes that making houses more human, making houses that make us feel more alive is not simply a matter of improving their design. He believes that the character of buildings is a consequence of the deep structure of their production system. So the houses that he wants us to create, houses that make us feel more alive will come when the systems of production of houses is improved.

The System of Production

Seven Principles:

What kind of person is in charge of the building operation itself?
How local to the community is the construction firm responsible for the building?
Who lays out and controls the common land between the houses, and the array of lots and houses?
Who lays out the plans of individual houses?
Is the construction system based on the assembly of standard components, or is it based on acts of creations which use standard processes?
How is cost controlled?
What is the day-to-day life like, on -site, during the construction operation?

Alexander answers these questions in turn.

A new kind of master builder who controls all aspect of planning, design, and construction in a very immediate way—but who has direct charge of no more than a few dozen houses at a time, with direct responsibility to the families who are going to live in those houses, and with the power to respond directly to their wishes.
It is possible to imagine a system of decentralized builder's yards, one or more for each small neighborhood, every few blocks, each one responsible for the physical development of the local neighborhood.
Groups of families, of a size small enough so people can talk to each other and reach agreements, can themselves work in clusters, have control over common land, and lay out their own lots according to their own designs and their own wishes.
Families can design their own houses, or apartments, within a fixed cost limit, and with certain necessary rules, bu tin a way that each house is a celebration of the spirit, a mark on the earth, of that family and its special story.
To avoid the tyranny of parts over the whole, it is possible to imagine a system of construction, in which what is standard ar the operations (tile setting, bricklaying, painting, spraying, cutting, etc.), but where the actual size and shape of what is done can vary according to the feeling and requirements of the individual building.
Each house can be made within a fixed budget, but without controlling the exact way in which this budget is spent, thus allowing each house to be different in the ways it needs to be in order to satisfy the family.
It is possible to imagine a more human situation on the building site, in which the spiritual importance of these houses becomes a real and effective daily part of life, in which the families themselves contribute as much or as little as they want to, but in which the construction process is a “house raising,” a time of special importance for these families, lived through by the families and the builders together in a way that celebrates its importance and its happiness.

So the book, The Production of Houses tells the story of using the answers to the seven questions Alexander sets out as fundamental principles for the designing of houses that make people feel more alive in Mexicali Mexico. Not everything in the experiment in building Opok Farms Village will be the same, but Opok Farms Village is very much an experiment too. Many of the ideas used in Alexander's experiment has some good ideas for how we might think about going about the construction at Opok Farms Village.

I have to laugh, because I don't really expect that many people will wade through all these words. But I'm very happy to hear any responses or questions. I'm sure it will take me several days to lay out a summary of the book. I will quote form the book, as I've done above with the seven principles of a system of production. I want this to be as short as possible and still be clear.

Please feel free to edit this page as you feel contributes to it.

Monday September 24, 2007

The Architect Builder

Most of The Production of Houses follows these seven principles outlined in “The System of Production. So the chapters are:

The Architect Builder
The Builder's Yard
The Collective Design of Common Land
The Layout of Individual Houses
Step by Step Construction
Cost Control
The Human Rhythm of the Process

I want to go through the book and give some indication about the contents of these chapters. Tonight I'll start with Chapter One, “The Architect Builder.

“There are the people who design the building and there are the people who build it. There are architects, and there are contractors.”

Alexander thinks that the separation is a problem which can only be solved by re-integrating these functions. Buildings are complex undertakings. The result we all want is to feel really alive in the buildings we make. Now there are many standard components of building, and this standardization makes it sensible to separate the design from the building. It's almost like a “to-do” list. But what makes a house a home are the intimate details. These details should not be imagined as merely adornment, but can be reflected in the actual structures. What Alexander wants is to find a way to make buildings no longer an object, “but a thing of love, which is nurtured, made, grown, and personal.”

To me, as an outsider, this idea seems especially important for Opok Village Farms. The wounds of such a long war are awfully painful, but even more painful is the numerous ways that that the society has been torn asunder. A friend from northern Uganda here, I like a lot because he tells stories. His grandmother, his father's mother, is featured prominently in his stories. So it was a real shock to me when I learned that his grandmother had been shut in her house as it was set alight. Now I know this, but I still hear the real stories of his grandmother, the ones told with a wry smile. And while my friend's smile always makes me smile, to some small degree I always feel his sadness too. Repair is not a simple thing, but a complex task. To make Opok Farm Village loved is a complicated process of deep repair. Building can be an important part.

Alexander rattles off a list of examples of what makes for a “better house.”

“All of these qualities can only be created by continuous interaction of 'design' and 'construction' during the erection of the building.”

Alexander looks more specifically at each example, and I'm leaving that out. But will present his point the examples serve:

“The great complexity needed by a human settlement cannot be transmitted via paper; and the separation of functions between architect and builder is therefore out of the question. The complexity can only be preserved if the architect and contractor are one. All this makes it clear that the architect must be the builder.”

The opposite is true too:

“...[I]t is axiomatic that the people who build the houses must be active, mentally and spiritually, while they are building, so that of course them must have the power to make design decisions while they are building, and must have an active relation to the conception of the building, not a passive one.”

Alexander outlines the responsibilities of the architect builder:

Planning
Zoning
Lot Subdivision
Design
Structural Engineering
Materials, Testing, and Development
Manufacturing
Building Permits
Construction
Accounting
Loan Approval

That's a big fat pile of responsibility! The subsequent chapters go into details about how such a load can be managed. While the planning process is decentralized in this case, as will be the building process, this role of architect builder seems important. From what I know, I imagine Norbert in this role, perhaps it will not be him. Whoever has the role, will need much support and figuring out the right ways of getting that support to the architect builder is important.

At Flickr there is a photo essay Development: Akwlgo Bridge over the Eze River which was part of a story told at the blog Grandiose Parlor a couple of years ago. It's a neat set to look at. The architect builder for this project is Dr. Todd Stong. Dr. Stong is a retired engineer who travels the world now donating his skills to create innovative water projects. It's probably an "American thing;" Dr. Stong seems a rare individual, but also a man whose role seems familiar. In that familiarity at least I get a glimpse of what this role, architect builder means. This project is an 80 meters long bridge over a river, built by regular people in sixty days for much less money anyone believed possible.

Thursday September 27, 2007

The Builder's Yard

It's raining very hard as I write. I'm always a bit apprehensive as I've lost three computers to close lightening strikes. I suppose I'm more generally apprehensive. I do think the book “The Production of Houses” contains so useful insights for Opok Farm Village. There's a strange sense of proselytizing in that. Now certainly converts are sometimes gained, but most of the time I ignore proselytizing, and imagine most do too. Oh well, I guess I'll soldier on, still I feel a little foolish about it.

The Builder's Yard is in a sense the physical compliment to the role of the Architect-Builder. The Architect-builder has more decisions to make than either a conventional architect or builder, but makes those decisions in the context of fewer projects. If the model of Architect-Builder were to take hold there would need to be many of them to accomplish the tasks at hand. Architect-Builders are needed to account for the feedback from the actual occupants of structures, that constructions are not made in an abstract universe of ideas, but right on the ground where building takes place. Decisions are localized and dispersed.

In developed countries building materials are manufactured in a centralized way. But in Alexander's model much more decentralization is required. Just as the Architect-Builder model involves the close attention to the specifics of really local structures, Builder's Yards are intended to make the necessity of building materials local. So just as in the model of Architect-Builders the world will need more of them, there will need to be more Builder's Yards. They are not temporary set ups, but integral parts of communities of intended structures.

In the “Production of Houses” a specific experiment using Alexander's model is presented. It is a group of five houses in Mexicali Mexico. The intention was that further development of houses would continue, but that didn't happen.

For the houses in Mexicali stabilized soil blocks were used. So the Builder's Yard was a place to make these blocks. There was also a need to test materials and construction methods. The whole discussion of the block making is rather interesting given that Opok Farm Village intends to use stabilized soil blocks in construction as well.

But it gets a little tricky. I noticed that the hope is for a block maker from World Vision that can make 3000 bricks a day. It's a pretty rough estimate, but I was figuring that means handling about nine tons of soil a day. Of course the weight of materials is why there are all sorts of machines associated with production block makers; i.e. screening soils, and also mixing the cement.

I'm still wondering about the composition of the soils there in Northern Uganda. Since fired bricks are traditional, I presume that the soil has a high clay content. Such high clay content soils are not ideal for making cement-stabilized bricks, sandy soils preferred.

One of the purposes of the Builder's Yard at the Mexicali project was to test materials. It will be very important at the Opok Farm Village to also test materials and methods. There is such an urgency about time, especially for the creation of farm stores. Banking on systems of production that can create 3000 bricks a day seems likely to lead to confusion in planning.

There is a very deep vision inherent to the Opok Farm Village. One of the most important reasons for thinking “The Production of Houses” might contribute to this effort is the observation that the structures we make are a physical representation of our ideas and visions. Something that might reasonably be said of Alexander's research is that patterns of African architecture have not been adequately studied. I'm not sure I've heard that said, but I've thought it. My Aunt always subscribed to National Geographic. When as children we would visit, I would always look through them. I don't have a particular memory of seeing pictures of African villages, but I do have a memory of a positive emotional response; a response I still feel.

Alexander presents that there are patterns in building. It was very interesting to me to discover the work of an American mathematician, Ron Eglash. Eglash noticed fractal patterns in aerial photographs of African villages. This observation led him on a career studying African mathematical ideas, and the observation that the history of mathematical ideas in Africa is another stream in the great river of human mathematics. I wonder if my deep feeling for pictures of African villages ever since I was a child, is in some way related to a well developed history of ideas by African people?

In any case, I suspect strongly that the power of indigenous buildings, their great quality of being alive, is not solely the result of how they are build, but the whys inherent in their construction, the ideas that are fundamental to them. How buildings are built, for example the materials used is obviously important, but the context of the patterns of why is essential.

One could say that Ugandans will take new technologies and make them Ugandan, or Acholi. There's probably some truth to that. But I've seen pictures of “dream houses” of some of my friends in Uganda. Something that stands out to me is the prominence of the attached garage in these pictures. That's a pattern I dislike in American houses—what a crank I am! I think there's something significant to pay attention to in the patterns of buildings and their relationship to one another and the places they exist. The big garage door for the house is very symbolic of the gasoline age, what is “modern.” I think that's why what looks to me like a Southern California tract home captures the imaginations of young Ugandans.

A Ugandan friend was the oldest of five children, the youngest still a toddler, when they were orphaned. One of the essential tasks for the was to assert their claim to property so that it wouldn't be taken from them. To do this they build a daub and wattle house had roofed it with metal sheets their parents had already purchased. On one hand the house was a source of pride, because after all through their efforts they had remained together as a family, even managing to stay in school. On the other hand it was a source of shame, the shame of being poor.

There's a sense of urgency at Opok Farm Village: Farm stores must be provided for. There are structures needed for programming. From an urgent perspective the sort of attention to details, to the really local concerns of the people inhabiting structures, that Alexander believes essential for making buildings “alive” may seem a frivolous, or a precious notion. Indeed the “rap” on Alexander's architectural ideas is they won't work because their impractically expensive.

For whatever flaws the experiment in Mexicali reveals, the houses were indeed made at the cost projected, which was far lower than the prevailing cost of building in the area. Furthermore, despite Alexander's sense that the houses weren't quite right, it's clear the people living in them love them.

The idea of an Architect-Builder sounds very much like a boss on some level, but at its core is empowering real people to make decisions about buildings they'll inhabit. In urgency, the sense is that decisions will have to be centralized. In regard for simplicity attention to details will be stripped away so the essential decisions can be attended to.

The essential vision of Opok Farm Village is a deep vision. By deep, surely the meaning is that the vision is attentive to a wide variety of connected ideas. So we imagine that we can easily determine which details can be dispensed with to enable urgent progress. But what are the ideas which underly our simplifying? We just know what is essential and what is not; or do we?

Another book I like very much is How Buildings Learn by Stewart Brand. Brand looks at what happens to buildings after they are built. I think what I like most about the book is what it has to say about creating things. Things aren't limited by the ideas that created them in the first place, they always seem to take on a life of their own. Or rather, it is people with all their ideas that keep on creating new ideas for things. In the book Brand points to a fabled Building #20 on the campus of MIT. A much loved building built as a temporary structure during WWII to house research into radar.

What has made Building #20 so useful over the years for conducting research has to do with it being built as a temporary structure in the first place. The University brass, didn't really care that much what people did there, after all the building was slated for demolition right after the war. So researchers had freedom to drill holes, and to alter the structure in ways that would never have been allowed in more permanent structures. The building is long, rather than high so the researchers working there had more chances to bump into each other walking here to there. Because it was a temporary structure all the services, like plumbing and electric are visible. People could experiment there, because it was easy to, and as the preeminent research institution that MIT is, lots of very important research has been conducted there.

In wartime, steel was scarce, so many essential details were ignored in the construction of Building #20. Among them was that an all wood structure didn't meet fire regulations. Perhaps most importantly nobody was too concerned about how the building looked. But attention was paid to the essential function of the building, which was a place for research. With such attention to those fundamentals the building succeeded long after its intended life span.

The family knows that there are more profitable ways to develop the property of Opok Farm Village than to pay attention to the needs of the orphans and former child soldiers. Fundamental to the vision of the development is the repair to the larger society of northern Uganda. There may be more profit in other ways to develop the land. Being raised a Christian, I thought of Paul and his letter to the Corinthians. I not really faithful, but still the endurance of love in Paul's words till seems significant.

What of others who have lost something essential to their culture? Jonathan Lear wrote a book, Radical Hope: Ethics in the Face of Cultural Devastation. “Lear takes as his basic text a statement by the tribe's great chief, Plenty Coups, describing the transition many years after in the late 1920s, near the end of his life: 'When the buffalo went away the hearts of my people fell to the ground, and they could not lift them up again. After this nothing happened.'"

There is something much more important than money involved with Opok Farm Village. In trying to figure out what details can be dismissed so that work can proceed, whatever those details which can be dismissed are, certainly the values which underly making a decision to develop the land in ways that are not optimal for profit must be attended to.

Alexander's approach to architecture is relevant because his ideas take these deep values, what is essential about Opok Farm Village seriously. The methods and the experiment are a model for building where what is essential is not neglected.

workshop

I transcribed this from a dharma talk on the Plum Village web site because there were serious problems reading it there because of some HTML coding errors. The main site has links you might find interesting.

The following transcription is of Thich Nhat Hanh's introduction talk and the initial Proposal to Listen For Peace and Security.

The talk was made September 2002 at:

Naropa University
School of Extended Studies
Boulder, Colorado
September 2002

In the past three years we have sponsored many groups of Palestinians and Israelis to come to Plum Village, to practice with us. All of them have big pain and suffering within. Most of them did not know how to breathe, recognize and embrace the fear, the anger, the frustration, the despair in them.

They could not look at each other. They could not talk to each other, because their fear is huge, their anger is so huge. With Buddha Sangha supporting, they are able to breathe in and out, generating the energy of mindfulness and embrace tenderly their anger, their fear, their frustration.

They learned to breath with us. They learned to walk with us. They learned to sit down finally with us. They learned to eat mindfully, wash the dishes mindfully with us, and finally we helped them to practice, the practice of deep compassionate listening to the other group of people. And we helped the other group of people to practice gentle speech, loving speech, so that they can empty their heart. They can to express everything that is in their heart, their fear, their suffering, their anger and so on.

The practice is having an opportunity to speak out everything in your heart because you can get a relieve when you do so. But you should be trained to speak in such a way the other group of people can listen and understand. Therefore calm, gentle speech must be learned.

It is very moving to be there and to listen to them, listening to each other and speaking to each other.

And after several session of deep compassionate listening, transformation took place. This group realized that the other group is made also of human beings and they have also suffered very deeply. They tell us how they suffer, how their children suffer, how they are victims of discrimination and fear and injustice. The practice of gentle speaking, loving speech and deep listening have brought about wonderful results.

These Palestinians and Israeli's have become brothers and sisters to each other in the practice. And for the first time they said, for the first time, they believed peace in the middle east is possible.

PEACE IN THE MIDDLE EAST IS POSSIBLE

You can not love, you can not love unless you understand. You can not be compassionate and accept the other person unless you understand him, her or them.

But understanding what? Understanding their suffering, their difficulties, their obstacles, their despair. Once you have understand, your heart opens. The nectar of compassion springs up. And you don't suffer any more because compassion has been born in your heart.

And when you have compassion in your heart you can help the other person to suffer less. You are able to use gentle speech, loving speech. You are able to help him or her to remove the wrong perceptions. Because these wrong perceptions have led to anger, hatred and fear and a willingness to punish.

The purpose of mindfulness and concentration leads to insight. The practice of deep listing and loving speech helps to remove wrong understands, wrong perceptions. Because wrong perceptions are the very ground of violence and terrorism.

You don't want to destroy them. You don't want to annihilate them as a people, as a nation, as a culture, as a religion, but they believe that you want to destroy them. And that is why they want to punish you, they want to destroy you, so you won't destroy them.

I was there when the event of September 11, happened.

On the 13th of September I gave a dharma talk in Berkerly for 4,000 people. I only said that violence can not respond to violence, hatred can not respond to hatred, only compassion can respond to hatred and violence.

It is my conviction that America is capable of being compassionate and understanding.

On the 25th of September again I spoke, in New York City. And I repeated, I brought the same kind of message. And I made a very concrete proposal for America so that American can overcome her suffering. And if America can overcome her suffering she can help others to overcome their suffering also.

AMERICA HAS TO LISTEN TO HER OWN SUFFERING

And this is what I proposed. First American has to listen to her own suffering, because there is suffering in America. There are sections of the population who believe, who feel that they are victims of discrimination and injustice. There are sections of the population who feel that they have never been listened to, they have never been understood.

It is my conviction that in America there are those of you who are very capable of listening deeply and with compassion. We have to identify them. We have invite them to come and form a kind of council, kind of parliament for compassionate deep listening.

There is a vast resource of peace in America. We have to identify these resources. Especially the people who know. Who are capable of understanding with compassion. Who are capable of listening deeply with compassion. And after we have formed that council of sages we will invite the sections of the population who have felt they have been discriminated against.

We can invite them to come and will assure them they are safe. If they want to speak out they are safe, provided that they learn how to speak with gentle speech. That those of us who can come and help them to breath, to walk, to embrace their suffering so that they can express themselves peacefully, the suffering in their heart.

The way we do in Plum Village for our friends from the Middle East. We help them to breathe, to calm, to embrace their suffering and their fear and their anger. Sessions of deep compassionate listening like that can be televised to the whole population of America.

SESSIONS OF DEEP COMPASSIONATE LISTENING CAN BE TELEVISED

Politicians of this country can profit greatly from these sessions of practice of deep listening and gentle expression. And the practice will inspire a lot of confidence on the part of other nations in the world. They will say look America is now capable of listening to their own suffering. How wonderful.

If they can understand themselves they will be able to understand us, as well. We have never asked Mr. Osama bin Laden about his suffering. We have never asked Mr. Saddam Hussain about his suffering and frustration. We can not say that we have understood completely these people. They must have suffered a lot. They must have a lot of wrong perceptions on themselves and on us, on America. Imagine President Bush and others speaking like this:

Dear people out there, we know that you must have suffered a great deal in order to have done such a thing to us in New York. We know that you must have hated us so much that you have done such a thing to us in New York.

You may have thought that we want to destroy you as a people, as a nation, as a culture, as a religion. But really we don't have that intention. We may have done something or said something that has given you that impression, that has created so much hatred and fear and violence in you so you could have done such a thing to us.

We want to listen to you. Please tell us what is in your heart.

USING THE BOMBS IS NOT THE MOST COURAGEOUS THING

Using the bomb is not the most courageous thing. Using the bombs may show that we are afraid.

Using our intuitions, our understanding, and our compassion show that we are great, we are brave, we are courageous. And I hope that our politicians can use that kind of language.

We want to understand you. We want to understand about your suffering, your difficulties.

In fact, we want you to have safety, to live in safety, in peace, with a capacity to grow as a nation. Because we know that if you don't have safety, we won't have safety either. Because we inter-are.

We are connected to each other. If you suffer deeply there is no way we over here can be truly happy. That is the language of truth, the language of insight, the language of inter-being.

The north and the south are connected. The suffering of the south can make the north suffer, the suffering of the north can make the south suffer.

We all inter-are. That is why, when we take care of other people, if we can offer them more safety, more conditions for development and then they have more safety and they have more peace also.

TERRORISM HAS ITS ROOTS IN WRONG PERCEPTIONS

Terrorism has its roots in wrong perceptions. Of course they have wrong perception on us, and also our wrong perceptions on us and on them. When we live together as a couple, if we don't understand each other, we make each other suffer. Love is not possible without understanding. Can't you make her happy if you don't understand her. No. That is why you have got to have the time to be mindful and to understand her difficulties, her suffering her despair, her hope.

DIRECT ACTION FOR PEACE

And a direct action for peace is to remove these wrong perceptions. All of have to become strategists. We have to look deeply on the possibility of helping to remove these wrong perceptions and we can't do that with the bombs.

The instruments proposed by the Buddha: breathing, calming, understanding, listen deeply with compassion. These are instruments that our politicians should know how to use. Our politicians have not been trained in acting like that and we should help them. We should support them.

There are people that are capable of doing so in our population in our nation. And we have to call on them to help in difficult moments like this one.

Ten days ago we had a mindfulness retreat in the Boston area. 900 people have come together to practice together six days, the practice of calming, embracing, and looking deeply. 900 Americans practicing together mindfulness of looking deeply of our situation. We organized that retreat in Stone Hill College in eastern Massachusetts.

All of us had practice, sitting quietly, breathing in and out deeply and looking deeply into our situation. The situation of our nation and of the world. And in dharma discussions many groups have come up with the intention in order to do something in order to prevent a new war from taking place.

For initiating real processes of peace in order to remove the wrong perceptions on our part, on their part, on ourselves, on themselves and on each other. They have the proposed text that may be used as an instrument to meditate and to generate the kind of insight and action that is needed to bring peace to our situation.

I will ask a nun, to come up and read that text for you.

A PROPOSAL TO LISTEN FOR PEACE

A Proposal to listen for peace. A petition for a future to be possible In light of the intensifying conflicts around the planet and before another war is declared. We call upon the United States and the world community to pause. As one humanity we cannot survive the continuing cycle of violence in response to violence.

There are alternative responses.

To avoid further violence and division, we propose a process of listening, healing and reconciliation on both a national and international level.

Peace begins with each one of us.

In order for the United States to truly support the harmony and safety of other nations in the world. We must first nourish harmony and safety in our own country. We have a need to listen to the suffering of our own people, caused by discrimination and violence. Listening with compassion to the suffering would increase national understanding and trust and show us paths out of division and despair. Recognizing the deep strength and good will of our nation.

We know we have the capacity to do this.

On the national level we call upon the United States and the mass media to explore the vast resources of wisdom and experience of many United States citizens who have been trained in and who have practiced the art of mediation and reconciliation.

These community and spiritual leaders would come together to form local and national forums for compassionate listening, to representatives of communities that suffer in the United States. When possible the forums would be televised. Emerging from these forums creative new solutions and legislation should be enacted to improve the lives of those who suffer in the United States.

This would alleviate the despair in this land that could otherwise explode into future acts of violence and terrorism.

We recognize that the peace, well being, and safety of the people within the United States and the peace, well being and safety of rest of the world are inextricably interwoven.

If the United States were to embody strong compassionate leadership through such self examination and reform we could give hope to other nations to begin similar processes.

On the international level we propose that a parliament of peace be created to listen to the people suffering of people throughout the world. And to offer courageous alternatives to war.

One of it's immediate concerns would be conflict in the middle east, particularly the possibility of war between the United States and Iraq. This international process would not duplicate the vital role of the United Nations. It's initial focus would not be dialogue between political representatives of nation states.

Instead it would create a safe space for representatives of other sections of the population who have endured great suffering to share and listen to each others stories and their visions for a peaceful world.

This sharing should be taken seriously by political leadership.

All of our steps must be taken with careful intention.

We call upon all nations and the United States in particular to answer this immediate need. Not by hastening toward increased tragedy.

But by moving calmly toward peace.

membership

Opok Farms - the CBO to be registered with Amuru District, Uganda - is a structure that will govern all individuals, organizations and groups engaging in activities on the Opok Farm landmass.

Executive Committee Members: Decision-making body, with the right to develop and enforce Opok Farm policy, engage staff, approve membership, and administer finances on behalf of Opok Farms the CBO.
Okec Family Members: Members of or appointed by the Okec family who are engaged in employing any portion of the family land or community at Opok Farm to promote their own professional, social or economic objectives. At least 1 Okec family member shall always sit on the executive committee. Ways and means of using the land resources by Okec Family Members will always be subject to approval of the Executive Committee. All Okec Family members thus engaged in Opok Farm activities are entitled to a vote in the Annual General Assembly
Member Communities: Includes institutions, organizations, companies, and community groups engaged in training, organic farming or the provision of community services at Opok Farm, under collaborative agreements whose terms and activities shall be approved by the Executive Committee. Member communities may appoint 2 representatives to vote in the Annual General Assembly
Farming members: Any member or member community using land at Opok Farm to grow crops, raise livestock and/or otherwise use the land and community resources to engage in agricultural production. All must abide by a code of environmental conduct. All are members of the opok farmers coop, where sale of their produce is optional.
Resident Members: Every man, woman and child who is currently living on the farm, whether they are engaged in farming or not. All residents over 15 get a vote in the Annual General Assembly.
Student members: Any child or adult enrolled in any certificate-giving vocational or academic program implemented on the farm by a Member organization that has been approved by the Executive Committee. Currently enrolled Student members over the age of 15 may vote in the general assembly.

More categories needed?

Alumni members: Former resident or student members of Opok Farms. No General assembly vote but maybe they can continue selling to the Opok Farms coop under certain quality conditions?

what about small businesses or processing technology providers?

Comments

I am thinking that the residential community ... and mind you I am only right now considering the village part ... needs to have their own governing body. They need to be in control of where their village goes. They need to be the ones how decide how things will happen between themselves. I suppose this could be within the frame work of Opok Farm Enterprise guidelines but I don't think it is a good idea to have an executive committee telling them how their lives will be run. You can have the exec committee to oversee the whole operation and I think that is necessary. I think that the exec committee can offer advice to the village governing group. I also think that the community should use their own resources to develop the village and if they feel like they need money for some development and can make the case that the project adds value to the Opok Farm Enterprise holdings, they can go to the Exec Committee and request funds. Maybe even, Opok Farm has an advisory member or observing member on the village governing body. - Linda

Exactly, Linda. Thanks for chiming in. We want to offer a structure that enables many actors to act independently on the farm, but abiding to a code of conduct and overseen/coordinated by the Executive committee of the Opok Farms CBO. Yes on the community/village/school having their own governing body, with 2 representatives in the annual general assembly plus every resident over 15 with a vote in the general assembly. Over time - as I imagine the community growing - control over the executive committee actually shifts into the hands of the resident community to elect.

With regard to where the village will be on the landmass, well, I am not sure what the process needs to be - feels kind of chicken and egg. We have already broken ground on land that is intended for use by the community school, so if the community wants to use another part of the land instead then all this work will have been for... something different. There's a lot of the landmass that isn't accessible at all, so in practical terms the choices are a little bit limited. Who the community is at this point who should decide where we start building basic infrastructure is not clear to me, but we do need to start building basic infrastructure if anyone is ever going to be able to take up residency. I also think there may be some parts of the property that we'd like to reserve for ecotourism and for Okec family use; we're also talking with the university about allocating some land to student projects. So I'd not wish to see the community be able to push any of those other players out in the name of community control. Since there will be other players involved I think it calls for a coordinated approach.

One of the things I am trying to do is distinguish between the Okec family owned Opok Farm landmass as a collaborative demonstration space with many players, and the resident (intentional) community associated with the school as one player (with it's own governance structure and land use rights) within that space. The challenge is that we cannot leave the family and family ownership rights out of the land use and community governance picture. The CBO structure, with these + other membership levels & voting rights, becomes a vehicle through which the family can maintain influence over how their land asset is used (and maintain the right to use some of their land themselves) while at the same time creating an open space for other players to do what they want to do there and have a voice in how the entire family owned space develops. That's the hope anyway.

WRT how things happen, my biggest concern is that we have a code of conduct for using the land sustainably. If the community decides to start clear-cutting the entire forest on their alloted portion and using heavy pesticides, or dumping toxic waste from a newly invented processing system, that's absolutely not ok. Through adhering to a code of conduct anyone who's a land-using member at any level will have to agree on some basic guiding principles on how we will and will not treat the land in that space.

Confused on which community should use their own resources to build the community. The families of orphans? We've never discussed the Opok Farms CBO in terms of providing funds - I'd rather have other partners like Life in Africa continue to play that kind of support role as required. The CBO is really just a structure under which many kinds of community based activities can take place in a coordinated way on the Opok Farm landmass.

btw - Shall we move this to a discussion or continue here?

added alumni membership category above

Regarding which community should use their own resources...I think that The village - children and others - should use as much of their own resources to build as much of their lives as they can. Much of what needs to be done CAN be done with the soil and sweat equity. And the learning that goes along with doing things.

About a year ago Asoke was invited to set up a demonstration community on the University campus. It was after the rainy season and the initial structures were very rudimentary. The main goal being to get the land producing. The land they were given was garbage land. They had to have other communities supply them with fertilizer so that they could condition the soil. In a matter of a few months they had things going and growing. They have since then started building more permanent structures. When the students from all over the country came here in June to enroll in the university, they had to build their own houses. There were people to help and guide, but one group made adobe bricks and built an incredible house ...and I do mean incredible.

We are on the same page here... I can see this happening. So where we are at now is getting the land producing, getting other "communities" to provide some of what's needed to get the rudimentary structures up for that beginning enrollment to take place. By the time that happens, the land will be productive and ready for the community to take over. Clearing the land from the state it's in to get it to a productive state takes a really long time. So until we have enough land cleared to be able to support the community school, we are using the cleared land to generate income to clear more land. That involves a community of laborers, who also have survival needs. So we're building an office, storefront, farm store, health clinic and basic shared lodging/cooking structures. The worker community will be building their own houses. When the school community comes onboard they will be able to benefit from that basic infrastructure in the early community building stages, without being married to using it exclusively over the long term.

We are working on a video of the brand new community here on the campus and the Sisaket community that is nearly 20 years old so you can see. Part of the learning and growing and strengthening comes from seeing that they can do it themselves and don't need the government or handouts from NGOs. Once they know that...getting money from outside is a great bonus and can be looked at gratefully as a gift rather than as a necessary requirement. In many ways, this process is inadvertently designed to develop cheetahs. If the community has to dig the soil and make the bricks themselves, when it's done, they OWN it...inn their hearts and souls, and they are stronger because they did it by themselves.

I get this, and have nothing to detract from what you've said - only to add 2 things that relate particularly to the transitional nature of the Northern Ugandan population:

In addition to what is built that stays to become permanent within the community at Opok Farms and owned by the community at large, I think it's also important to value the knowledge that comes through actually doing, which is a portable asset that nobody can ever take away from the individual. So once I've learned to build a house or keep bees I can do that anywhere my life's journey takes me.

One thing that struck me when reading something about the Asoke community you sent me was the principle of reaching out to other communities with the concepts. One way to do that is to set up demonstration communities - like we are doing. Another way might be to organize community outreach programs. In this case I see in my mind's eye that we will by nature of the Northern Ugandan situation have a lot of people passing through on their way to resettle elsewhere. In playing to that, building up a strong alumni program will, I think, ensure that the sense of community ownership stays strong, but also that the concepts spread radially out into other surrounding communities and family structures.

I saw a DVD today of some shorts of the Asoke communities that were shown on Thai TV. One of my students is using a part of the DVD for his project presentation next week but I will be able to get my hands on the DVD after that. I think I can rip it to a format that you can watch. One of the segments shows them showing students from a school in a neighboring town how to grow organic vegetables. One shows them building equipment to make an organic pesticide. One of my students did his project report today on making bricks from recycled paper and cement. Another project was about recycling milk boxes into bags that can be taken to the market to eliminate the need for plastic bags! Another was about making mobiles from plastic bottles. One of the other grad students is doing a project working with Thai farmers who are in debt to change their "evil" (that s my word not his) ways and giving up smoking, drinking and gambling and then saving the money! They have been running the program in test mode and it is apparently being very well received.

If this discussion is primarily me and you right now, I would say, keep it here. When ever you are ready to move it public, move it to a discussion thread.

Another thing - on Razoo I had a guy join the Opok Farm Village group who already had a kind of Support Uganda thread. He sent me this message that I got this morning:

My reply to Cor to the email address on his website

Hi Cor!

Linda Nowakowski just showed me your message from Razoo - I'm tickled pink about your dome idea and really want to have a discussion about it. We're developing the project over at http://ned.com - please join us there and look up (and join) the Opok Farms group. If it's ok with you I'd love to use your message to Linda as a starter for a new thread on environmental learning/play activities targeted at school kids that we have slated for the farmspace.

Looking forward to connecting with you on ned -

Christina Jordan

Date: 09/11/07 From: Cory Richardson

Wow.... that is very exciting! Thanks for the back ground. I want to take part.

What will be happening there in November?

I want to build a geodesic dome using bamboo and fill it with a web of hammocks and swings. It would look like a playground, but it would be a place for children to sleep as well. It will be easy to sew tarps to cover it. It would be a massive wonderland where kids would be put to sleep with bedtime stories like circus preformances. All we need is bamboo, fabric, rope and bike inner tubes.

On the US Gulf Coast after hurricane katrina, I set up a 60ft and 30ft dome to be a community center supporting a relief kitchen that served 1000 people a day. This is a view of it from above:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q& amp;hl=en&geocode=&q=771 8+W+Judge+Perez+Dr,+Arabi,+LA+70 032&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&a mp;sspn=39.729049,70.664062& ie=UTF8&t=k&om=1&ll= 29.95648,-89.989869&spn=0.00 1032,0.001427&z=19

And a 30 minute video I made sharing the experience(the quality of this online version is not great, but you get an intimate view of what really happend: http://video.google.ca/videoplay ?docid=7741275027359055423&q =Making+Love+in+a+disaster+zone

Could you find Opok farm on Google Earth and send me the address?

What more can you tell me... or where can I find the info? I'll look on the Life in Africa site to start.

My objective is to bring attention to projects already happening... and add what I can to... such as a sewing room and playspace. I'd love to make Opok fram my main focus. Thanks for joining the Stitch facebook group. Please use that space to promote what you are doing. I also have a mailing list that goes out to many amazing people and I'm about to send out a bi-weekly report to them. If you have anything you'd like to add to the report... please send it... and add yourself to the list. The email form is near the top of www.actionheronetwork.net

With love,

Cor

Rather than try to categorise all types of members can't we include them all under Member Communities? It already looks like the Member Communities covers farming, resident, student etc categories. With this in mind, I think the Executive should have chairperson, secretary, deputy chair, treasurer, etc as members. As Member Communities join/develop the executive along with the new and existing members will decide on terms, activities, etc. The executive may also have to restructure accordingly. I have suggested this after being informed that the structure of a CBOs in the district need not be very detailed at registration as restructuring is easy and can be done as the CBO evolves. Since we need to register asap why not register with only three categories; Exec, Family and Member Communities that covers everything else?

Norbert

Sorry you missed that meeting, sweety :) LiA has faced some legal governance conundrums because of that very mistake: making changes later became complicated (according to the lawyers consulted) precisely because membership and voting rights for different kinds of members was not clearly defined in the original documents. This was the only section of the draft document we were working on with George and Finny that we decided needed some tailored thought, and is based on a membership structure we saw in some other CBO documents Finny has worked on. The exec board structure and all that is already in the draft cbo document that you can find in the Opok Farms folder on the WE Center Gulu server.

Opok Farms

Situated in Amuru district, Koc Goma Sub County, Amar parish Opok Farm covers approximately 2,600ha (6,400acres) that has been leased to Mr. S.L. Okec since 1975. The farm operated succesfully on 240ha(600acres) that had been cleared of forest until 1985, when insecurity in the region forced the family to abandon the farm.

The return of peace in the region has inspired the family of Mr. Okec to return to the now reforested land in 2007, to begin reviving what had been a source of employment, food (farm produce) and farm services in the sub-county. More specifically, the vision for developing Opok Farm includes the creation of a community based demonstration and learning center, that will target disadvantaged groups in Northern Uganda's post-war population with farm, household and personal skills for living on and adding value to their own land, as the resettlement process in Northern Uganda continues.

To this end, Opok Farms: an organically grown community is a CBO established in August 2007, among which the key objectives include:

job creation through the demonstration of sustainable organic farming and value-added solar processing technologies
facilitation of community based resettlement planning and the development of legal, farm and financial services targeted at the needs of the resettling population
vocational training for IDP Camp youth in environmentally sound forest management and organic agricultural practices
sustainable eco-tourism facilities targeted not only at foreign visitors but especially at Ugandan school and community groups
practical, values-based boarding school education that imparts sufficiency-living concepts to Northern Ugandan child families and returnees

To achieve the above stated objectives Opok Farms will work in full partnership with the new Amuru District administration and a range of local and global partners.

A foundational relationship has already been established during Phase 1 with Life in Africa, a network in Uganda that organizes grassroots communities to organize themselves.
Preliminary discussions with the Catechist Training Center in Gulu also point to their likely involvement in developing agricultural training programs for IDP camp youth that will be implemented at Opok Farm.
A group of students from Ubon Ratchatani University in Thailand will visit the farm in early 2008, to survey the feasibility of establishing a school for child headed families and returnees that is patterned after a model for practical, values based community education that has been successful in that country.

Phase 1 of the Opok Farm development (Jun-Aug 2007) has seen the recruitment of the first resident community of 25 laborers from nearby Koch Goma camp who have agreed to resettle for an initial 2 years to the farm. The workers are actively involved in developing the Phase 2 workplan, during which 65 re-cleared acres will be cropped organically, basic community housing and infrastructure will be constructed, and inputs will be sought for further development of the Opok Farms vision.

Phase 2 of the Opok Farms project is now actively seeking the involvement of additional partners and stakeholders in Northern Uganda, to enable the farm access to the following services and inputs required to move forward:

Mechanized plowing: Only 10% of the previously cleared land has been re-cleared to date, at an expense which will be too large for the farm to bear alone on the remaining 90%. Partners willing to open the land in exchange for their own temporary use of the land will provide a valuable cost savings.
Community health services: NGOs and/or District health services that are able to extend services to the planned Opok Farms community are invited to propose modalities for health care delivery partnerships.
Wildlife / environmental training & damage control: "encroachers" and charcoal burners are destroying the forest canopy at an alarming rate. Elephants thought to be in the area also pose a threat to worker safety. Opok Farm is thus seeking advice, legal support and training resources from national and district level officials that can assist in protecting the area's bio-diversity. A full environmental survey of the area is highly desirable.
Partners in vocational and specialized education: Financial and technical partners are sought to develop educational facilities and programs that specifically target vulnerable child-families with an integrated psycho-social, vocational and academic approach to contextual learning.
Organic export partners: Buyers of organic produce are invited to propose seasonal contractual terms for quantities of specific crops.

For further information about the activities ongoing at Opok Farm, contact Mr. Norbert Okec on issues related to land use /farming (0772 639 376 / nokec100 at yahoo dot co dot uk) , or Ms. Christina Jordan on issues related to development of Opok Farms community based social programs (0774 175 301 / christina4lia at yahoo dot com).

Announcements

Reports on the current status: http://www.ned.com/group/opokfar ms/news/0/