Tateh Lehbib Barika is no ordinary engineer. He was born in the Sahrawi refugee camps in Algeria, which are home to thousands of people displaced by conflict in Western Sahara more than 40 years ago. Growing up he experienced first-hand the harsh conditions endured in the camps, where metal roofing sheets on mud brick houses intensify the searing desert heat and often blow off during frequent sand storms.
After receiving a scholarship from the UNHCR (the UN’s refugee agency) to study renewable energy, Tateh Lehbib returned to the camps with an innovative idea to improve living conditions for his community, which had been devastated by floods. He set about building a new home for his grandmother using recycled plastic bottles filled with sand. His idea caught the attention of the local UNHCR office, which helped him secure USD$60,000 funding to build 25 more homes.
The community-led project demonstrated how readily and freely available materials could be used to build better homes, reducing refugees’ reliance on external aid and recycling problematic plastic waste. For 50 vulnerable people, the project has provided a safer, cooler place to live and for the community at large, the skills to continue building.
