Introduction
There was a great gush of adrenaline, anxiety, chittering and chattering, and curiosity that traveled with me throughout my journey to the Los Angeles International Airport at the start of my journey to Ecuador. It was my first trip alone, a spontaneous decision made during chemistry lecture as I zoned out from–I think–electron momentum spectroscopy. There were evident mixed feelings of elation and guilt as the ambition of going on a lone journey was finally coming true along with the fact that I wasn’t going to be with my family for the first time on an international trip.
Hi, my name is Krisha Nair. I’m a sophomore at UC Berkeley studying environmental sciences, geophysics, and nuclear engineering. I was born and raised in Los Angeles, California and my roots come from Kerala, India. My fervor for the environment began with a video on the internet depicting an instance of animal cruelty back in 2019, and I knew from then on that my future endeavors needed to relate to environmental and climate amelioration. Besides animal agriculture, I’m interested in volcanic energy engineering and international resolutions regarding environmental conflicts, like how bamboo building and syntropic agroforestry are pursued in the Regeneration Field Institute.
[left to right] Krisha (me), Emily, Aurora, Guido, and Jonathan explore an abandoned school bus behind Unidad Educativa "Eloy Alfaro" while waiting for the bamboo glaze to dry at the school's field.
The Meat!
I never, never, never ever expected it to be so difficult to cut fish-mouth joints on bamboo. The project that this task was associated with was building a shaded structure for seating at the Unidad Educativa “Eloy Alfaro” high school in the city of Bahía de Caráquez. We were able to work with expert local builders who showed us the different techniques and tools used to build sustainable and seismically-safe bamboo houses. We learned how to select the right bamboo poles, treat them to prevent insect infestation, and assemble them into walls and roofs using traditional methods. As bamboo is known as a lightweight, strong, and stable natural material, I underestimated not only how complex the process of designing bamboo architecture was in correlation with stability, cutting, drilling, and electricity, but also with its overall aesthetic.
[left to right] Yamilet, Krisha (me), and Dillan glaze over a bamboo piece.
Due to its high strength-to-weight ratio, bamboo structures are subjected to less force during seismic events and are less likely to collapse; therefore, endangering fewer people. Its ability to tolerate fire and extreme temperatures make it a perfect, cost-effective, and easy-to-cultivate alternative as a building material.
I really struggled with the fish-mouths; I wasn’t even able to do a complete one without being poked by bamboo strands due to imperfect and weak cutting. Watching Sixto, one of RFI’s lead bamboo construction workers, made me admire in disbelief at how perfect his fish-mouth technique is, as well as the other workers. I wasn’t sad about it though. Embarrassed at my weak muscles, sure, but not unmotivated at how fast some of my friends caught on to the technique. Some of the students cut bamboo beautifully, while the majority of us struggled and ended the task with relentless panting, sore arm muscles, and tense knee caps. As you can see, my friends and I took turns with the same piece of bamboo but we weren’t able to get very far. It was quite a comical situation.
The following picture was taken approximately 45 minutes after starting to cut the same piece of bamboo. Evidently, I didn’t get very far.
[left to right] Yamilet, Krisha (me), and Dillan glaze over a bamboo piece.
Before starting this build, however, we had to construct the shaded structure’s miniature model. While half of the students in this group were planting bananas in the syntropic forest, a small group of us got to stay at the farm and build the model. The precision taken to measure out the wooden sticks and amounts of glue was remarkable. It was relatively easy to complete this model, and my friend Sylvia ended up making two tiny characters with stick remnants and putting them on the structure with the extra time we had, as seen in the following image.
[left to right] Maria, Krisha (me), Sylvia, Andrew, Michael, Derrick, and Bellamy stare in awe at the bamboo model we glued together with two miniature characters sitting on it.
Conclusion
The finished shaded bamboo seating structure in the field of Unidad Educativa "Eloy Alfaro." in Bahía de Carácquez
The structure is finished. Cutting, drilling, assembling, glazing, and drying. Everyone’s work from the past week and a half culminated into a structure that was utilized by students at Unidad Educativa “Eloy Alfaro” then and will be for generations to come. Throughout this project, I learned the importance of intercultural communication, adaptability, and most importantly, self-awareness. I solidified the fact that in comparison to a majority of the world, I live in solitude, independence, freedom, and the land of opportunities. Understanding that accessibility, affordability, and convenience are the three main factors that drive our world to be the way it is was something I had to come to terms with. It wasn’t, and isn’t, something that sits well with me, but I can understand why it is the way it is. Not everyone has access to the luxuries that I do, not everyone can afford the simplicities that life gives us, and not everyone can go out of their way to buy cool, eco-friendly items due to inconvenience. I took these learning outcomes with me back to California and influenced my friends and family to look beyond the media and delve into reality.
Ecuador is one of my greatest spontaneous decisions.
The entire January 2023 RFI group takes a picture outside of Los Arboleros Farm on the last day before heading to Bahía de Caráquez for the last four days in Ecuador.