Day 5

Today we went to the Laurie Baker Center and were given three presentations. We learned more about the foundations that COSTFORD uses from P B Sajan and how bamboo can be made harder than steel and last just as long under the right conditions. We also learned about cheaper and alternative building materials to cement and steel, including mud mixed with lime! Mr. Jayakumar provided an interesting presentation on urban development from an environmentalist point of view and mainly focused on the negative effects of pesticides and how the language barrier caused even more problems. Our final presentation was on the International Institute for Social Entrepreneurs which helps people to overcome adversity. After the presentations we left the LBC and went down the road where we were given a tour of a paper factory run by self employed women. This factory was a small part of the Kerala's state government which  sets aside 1/3rd of its budget for projects such as these to help create jobs and better the lives of its people. The factory was well run and also built be COSTFORD. The last thing that we were given a tour of was the IISE school for the blind (built by COSTFORD). It was built in a way that would help prepare blind people for the real world and no two rooms were the same in some of the structures. The four buildings were built along a winding path and ended at a marsh area where there was a garden and an open green field. The sunset there was beautiful and we enjoyed tea and good conversation after the tour.