HASAKAH, Syria (North Press) – Youssef, his family and a number of relatives try to hurry up the renovation of his house, which is an annual activity prior to first drops of rain.
Youssef al-Hatra, 49, from the village of Humer, has a house made up of three rooms and utilities. It is a ceiling of mud, a number of wooden trusses and nylon while the walls are concrete blocks.
Al-Hatra’s family is made up of 12 members. Al-Hatra depends on free works and agriculture to earn a living. Just like the vast majority of villagers in the countryside of Hasakah, he still lives in a mud-made house as he cannot afford to build a cement one.
The man says that due to hard living conditions and high costs of iron and cement among others, he has no choice but to annually renovate his house to avert rainfall pour.
At this time every year, people in the countryside become preoccupied with reparation. They remove the dried mud from the roof and lay a thick layer of straw.
Then the process of preparing the mixture starts by pouring water onto a pile of soil mixed with straws to help the mud become sticky, so it would not peel off after plastering.
The work is shared by a lot of people. One kneads the mud with his bare feet, another shovels the mud, a third fills in the buckets to be taken by a fourth to the roof. On the roof, there is a well experienced plaster.
Mud-made houses are low costing and easily built. Components are taken from nature. In winter they are warm and in summer are moderate. This makes it an alternative to cement ones especially for the poor.
This type of houses are made up of soil, water, and straws. In the countryside of Hasakah, you can see houses made entirely of mud, while others are half made of concrete blocks and half of mud.
This time, Murshed Saied al-Hatra, 53, from the village of Humer al-Gharbia wanted to build a cement house to replace an old room which accommodates his 12-member family. However, after listing the costs, he gave up the idea.
Murshed, a farmer, says building a cement house could cost at least 24-25 million SYP ($4750), “which is beyond our financial capacity.” As a result, he was compelled to build a one made of mud.
A miter of gravel is sold for $7. This applies to sand too. A ton of iron is sold in return for $850, a ton of cement costs $100 and a piece of concrete block costs $0.35.
The case of Omar al-Fares is not a different one. Omar lives in the village of Humer al-Gharbia. He has a five-member family, which lives in a house he built eight years ago.
Omar says he cannot afford to build a house of cement. Every year he repairs his house. “Building mud-made houses in not expensive; we do not hire workers, as relatives help each other’s,” he said.