C: Can you tell a little bit about your work with Konbit Shelter? 

R: Konbit shelter has had several projects of constructing houses for people whose houses were destroyed or damaged after the earthquake. I was involved in the majority of these projects such as the project of construction of the house of Monique,  Adelia’s house, the Louisiana house and the Community Center which was reworked several times. What I enjoyed most was the type of materials Konbit Shelter used - natural materials that everyone in the community can easily find to build their own home and help others build. The reason I emphasize this is because every construction project that Konbit Shelter makes teaches people how to do it for the community and for themselves as well. What makes me most interested in the home building projects is that they are anti-seismic and cool inside. And I like the way the Super-Adobe is shaped. Here are some materials that Konbit Shelter uses to build houses and the community center: earth, plaster, straw, wood, sand, bamboo, as well as more commercial materials like cement and wire, but in small amounts. Every house was designed differently, but they all used almost the same materials, except Louisana’s house, which was designed and built with bamboo, and is also a beautiful habitable house. 

I used to build and make wooden furniture and I didn’t even know how much work I could make with bamboo but with the Louisiana House construction project the architects taught us a lot of things that we can do with bamboo, especially Guadua Bamboo.  It is this project of building a house with natural materials that inspires me to continue working with Konbit Shelter.  

After all the experience and analysis I have done and what I’ve learned from the engineers and architects, I think it is important that the reconstruction of the houses should be done with natural materials because they are easy to find, more flexible and durable.

All the projects carried out by Konbit Shelter have benefited the community and have helped everyone economically and provided people with professional knowledge. 

Konbit shelter is like a university where everyone can learn and share what they have learned with other people.

C: If you were given all the resources you needed to start your own project right now, what would you create?

R: I would like to have one or more music schools, arts, and why not one or more universities, as well as primary school and high school - because at the moment, school is not free in Haiti.  

Also creating an irrigation system and helping farmers by donating seeds and water. And maybe trying to see how we could come up with a system of solar electricity in this village to help the kids and youth to memorize their lessons.  Also a livelihoods program to create loans.

I prefer to continue to create longer-term projects in order to continue to help more people. 

I would like to continue to create more jobs, to train everyone in the village on autonomy, and how to continue helping each other and creating more projects such as, vocational training, micro-credit, and university, as well as how to create their own business. 

And doing all this together, because life is shared. 

- Robinson Michelot, interviewed by Caledonia Curry