At Awra Amba we live in symbiosis with the environment that hosts us. Humans and nature are allies so that all creatures – humans, animals, plants – can live in the best possible conditions.
Awra Amba Community is located in the Amhara Region, in the northwestern part of Ethiopia, between 9°20’ and 14°20’ north latitude and 36°20’ and 40°20’ east longitude.
The Amhara region contains much of the highland plateaus above 1,500 meters with rugged formations, gorges and valleys, as well as millions of settlements for Amhara villages surrounded by subsistence farms and grazing fields.
The world-renowned Nile River and its source, Lake Tana, are located in this region, as are historical sites such as Gondar and Lalibela.
The landscape is interspersed with higher mountain ranges and crater cones, the highest of which — at 4.620 meters — is Ras Dashen Terara, northeast of Gondar.
Landscape and climate
The village of Awra Amba is bordered by the villages of Quarke to the south, Tizaba (or Tizab) to the east, Maksegn (or Maksegnit) to the north, Jib Gudguad to the northwest, and Arba Chane to the west. The terrain of Woji-Awra Amba Kebele is 30% plain, 40% mountainous and 30% hilly. The Kebele is 1,920 meters above sea level and its soil is mainly clay.
The climate of the kebele is temperate. The average annual temperature is 21°C, with the highest temperatures from February to June.
Rainfall averages 1,290 mm per year, as measured in 2020 at weather stations near Woreta and Alember. Rainfall is highly variable during the year, with a rainy season lasting from June to September and a dry season the rest of the year.
A calm place
For those who come from the busy and noisy cities of Ethiopia, as well as from the small villages, Awra Amba stands out for its serenity, its tranquility. This is especially true at night, when no Orthodox church or mosque blares its sermons or calls to prayer through loudspeakers.
Our houses
At the beginning of our history, the members of the Awra Amba community lived in a scattered way. At that time we did not have a house and we slept under the trees.
When we returned to our lands, we still faced social and economic problems and we didn’t have enough money to build houses. At that time, our way of building shelters was not different from the neighboring farmers.
We built very simple huts with a circular floor and a conical roof. The roof was made of wood and grass and the walls of wood and mud. The huts hardly protected us from the rain.
The space for a whole family was very small and didn’t have different rooms. The living room, kitchen, and bedroom were all in the same room.
The village today
The village of Awra Amba does not look like its neighbors. Traditionally in the region, a farm consists of one to six round houses with conical thatched roofs, depending on the wealth of the owner.
In Awra Amba, the houses, all of the same model, are rectangular, with two independent rooms, made of a frame of eucalyptus wood, usually placed on stone foundations and covered with straw and clay.
Their roofs have gradually been replaced by corrugated iron sheets, which now cover all the houses.
Building houses is a community affair
The houses are built together by the men and women of the community. To see families building their houses side by side, coming and going together, working together, discussing and deciding together, shows a great emotional bond between the different families, the community finally becoming one big family.
The Sekela bet
In 1986, when our community was finally established on its own land, we began to build our houses according to the Sekela bet, a construction method that uses a rectangular base with a long width.
The interior of the sekela bet is beautiful. A single sekela bet is divided into several rooms and each room is reserved for one family. Inside you will find a separate bedroom with shelves and a living room.
The bedroom has a handmade bed made of local materials. Our beds have covers made in our weaving workshop. The shelves are used to store daily necessities. The living room has a fuel-efficient stove.
The advantages of an earth-built Sekela home are:
Very low carbon footprint: due to the 100% use of natural local resources, earth buildings use very little in the way of manufactured or processed materials; the amount of energy consumed in construction is low, thus reducing the environmental impact.
Great for indoor climate control: as a high mass material, earth balances temperature fluctuations by releasing absorbed solar energy over time, providing a stable and comfortable indoor temperature (passive solar heating).
Moisture control: earth has a great ability to absorb and release moisture from the indoor air, thus stabilizing the indoor humidity and providing a healthy living environment (prevents mold).
Noise control: earth buildings have very low sound transmission levels.
Fire resistance: earth walls are non-combustible, providing a lower fire risk factor for the building.
Detoxifying: earth walls are completely breathable and have the ability to absorb toxins and pollutants from the indoor air.
Affordable and sustainable: low maintenance and heating costs equate to low lifetime costs for the building. As energy costs rise, energy efficient buildings will be of great value.
Zero waste: unstabilized earth is a fully recyclable material.
Beauty of color and texture: dirt is very pleasant to work with and offers a huge potential for personal creativity.
Sanitation
The water used comes from four diesel-powered wells, except for the oldest, which is manual. The three newest provide drinking water, which is checked regularly.
Each household has a dry toilet with a nearby handwashing facility; they were grouped together and located 50 to 100 meters outside the village, but are now next to each dwelling.
Taking care of where we live
The houses and the village — as well as all the surrounding areas — are very clean, which limits infectious diseases such as malaria.
Maintenance and cleaning is done by all the villagers under the supervision of the Water, Hygiene and Sanitation Committee. The village has several wooden bins for garbage collection.
