Building Earth Houses in North Eastern Thailand

Travel to Teach is realizing a long held dream when setting up a camp to help build Mud Houses, or earth, clay or adobe houses as they are also called, in a Lahu village on a mountain above Pai. The initial pilot program is running from 15th to the 25th October 2008, however if this as successful as we hope it will be, then we will running more programs in the future. The program can be combined with other volunteer placements.

Program for the 10 day project.
Volunteers will be driven to a drop-off point and we will then trek to the Lahu village. Once at the village, volunteers will have a short briefing and set up our sleeping arrangements, and then begin learning how to build right away. You will have the opportunity to look around the village in small groups and can take some photos over the course of the trip. There is also a waterfall within walking distance if you want to swim. Electricity in the village is solar powered, so entertainment in the evening will consist of talking with your fellow campers and the local villagers.

Volunteers will be working to build shower rooms, toilets and a sink area for the villagers. There are approximately 30 children in the village school and you may have the opportunity to help teach English to them if you are interested. The mud structures will be built entirely from scratch, so you will learn the basics of making and drying the bricks yourself. The local school children will learn how to take care of the new toilets as part of their duties.

This will be a fun way to learn more about the Lahu hill tribe villagers and to interact with other volunteers; while doing something that will benefit this community for years to come.

Lahu People

Lahu villages are usually located high in the mountains at an altitude of approximately 1,000 meters. In the past, Lahu people practiced shifting cultivation, planting upland rice and corn as well as small amounts of a range of food plants and vegetables. Until Government restrictions were enforced, opium was an important cash crop for the people. Profits from the sale of opium were used to buy salt, iron and other products which they could not grow themselves. Villages comprise of 10 or more houses, generally built on the mid-slope. Houses are built from bamboo, wood and cogon grass.

Lahu food is strong in flavor and tends to be very hot and spicy, and/or very salty and/or very sour. The nutritional benefits and having enough to eat tend to be more important than taste, although there is never a meal without chilies.

You can read more about the Lahu people and other hill tribes of Thailand at www.hilltribes.org.