Viri Domum

If selected as a winner, I would use the prize money for building our first house outside of the US and in Guatemala. This funding will cover the costs of the necessary US staff to oversee the project. I would then use the remaining funds to build four houses in PanaJachel Guatemala for the indigenous Mayan peoples who are living in extreme poverty with substandard housing. The Amplification component of the prize is most exciting to me because I am a doer and need a great deal of help to tell my story. I would like our work to be showcased on the social impact stage but am unsure of how to establish a following of people outside of those directly impacted or involved with our work.

I have wanted to work in the humanitarian aid field for as long as I can remember. Every decision I have made from where I attended college and graduate school to the jobs I have taken over the years has been a carefully planned lead up to where I am now. My path to international aid work changed slightly when Hurricane Sandy made landfall in my community in 2012. The devastation was unlike anything I had ever experienced. I knew at that moment that I had to do whatever I could to help my community. The work I did for the next eight years would show me just how crucial access to housing is. I also learned that those living in extreme poverty do not have the luxury of deciding whether or not they should live in an area at high risk for climate-related disasters. While working in domestic long-term recovery I began creating a portfolio of new and innovative affordable housing solutions for those living in extreme poverty. Over the next few years, I hope to implement all that I have learned and researched to build adequate, sustainable, and affordable housing for those most in need and least remembered. 

Viri Domum will address the inequities of poverty, the lack of adequate housing, and energy security. Extreme poverty amongst Guatemala’s indigenous peoples may be traced back to Spanish colonization. The Guatemalan people suffered political, economic, social, and religious domination by the Spanish who viewed the ancient indigenous practices as primitive and inferior. The repercussions of colonization live on today. Guatemala’s indigenous populations typically rely on seasonal subsistence farming and tourism for income as they have had few educational opportunities. According to USAID, indigenous people in Guatemala are the least likely in the nation to complete primary and secondary school and have little to no access to economic opportunities. According to the Center on Housing Rights and Equality, 50% of Guatemalans, mostly rural indigenous, live in inadequate housing. It is estimated that a million people live in homes of cornstalks or scavenged materials. Viri Domum will work to address these inequalities by providing these communities with sustainable housing that will also be a source of income. The provision of adequate housing will have lasting positive repercussions on the entire community and the generations to come.

Viri Domum’s approach to building sustainable housing involves using innovative new materials and building techniques to build culturally appropriate houses in rural, forgotten areas of developing countries. These houses will be built to withstand the impacts of natural disasters common to the area. Many other companies have started building small or tiny homes with materials like used shipping containers and other reclaimed materials. Although those approaches are sound and aesthetically pleasing, they would not suit a rural indigenous community. Furthermore, our focus on these rural indigenous areas is unique to our mission. Similar approaches to the development of sustainable housing may have been tried in other locations but it is rare that programs are designed to address the needs of some of the most marginalized communities around the globe. Maintaining cultural integrity for these communities is one of the most important factors in how our work is planned and carried out. Lastly, the most unique feature of Viri Domum houses is that they are all built to generate more solar energy than they will consume. The excess kilowatt-hours will be sold back to the grid and will provide an additional income source for the household.

Viri Domum staff and partners have been meeting with colleagues and community leaders in PanaJachel for the last six months to develop this program. The team will travel to Guatemala at the end of May to finalize program details and identify the first program beneficiaries. Additionally, we use this trip to obtain property in the community to build a model home. The model home will serve dual purposes. First, the model home will serve as a way to further trust within the community and garner feedback on the design and construction process from the locals who will be building and living in these houses. Second, the model will be used as transitional housing during construction. We will build new housing structures on existing properties owned by local indigenous families which will require the use of the model home for those temporarily displaced during construction. The houses will be built with sustainable and practical materials like hempcrete to match the local environmental needs and cut down on typical burdens like mold growth. Building the houses with solar power will enable these families to live without the burden of an electric bill and will mean they have regular access to electricity year-round.