Last October, this absolutely dreamy Sutra LTD was raffled off and all ticket sales went to Smart Shelter Foundation as part of Kona’s Torino-Nice Rally sponsorship. And the Dream(build) has come true for a lucky winner. Keelan Mills from Calgary picked up his beautiful, unique new ride at Bow Cycle in Canada.
We reached Martijn Schildkamp from Smart Shelter to find out more about who they are and what they will do will the money they collected.
How did Smart Shelter come to life?
2002 was the first time I ever traveled to a developing country. I was out on a camel safarin and my camel started fighting with another one, and I was thrown off. I broke both my feet in the middle of Tar desert near Jaisalmer. I was extremely lucky. I could have landed on my head. That experience let me see various (rural) Indian hospitals from the inside, and then had to be in a wheelchair in The Netherlands for 3 months. This experience is when I realized that I am also very lucky that I was born in the west, with all the opportunities of education, employment, insurance, and so on. At the time I was working as an architect, and I decided to dedicate my life to people that are less fortunate, that are in need of basic shelter and improved living conditions, so in 2005 I started Smart Shelter Foundation, sold all my belongings, and went to Asia.
In hindsight, I must thank this camel for changing my direction in life. Smart Shelter has been quite successful in executing a large number of projects so far:
• 170 post-tsunami houses on the west coast of Sri Lanka
• School with compressed earth blocks in South India
• 20 pre-earthquake-resistant mountain schools in Nepal
• Training of 250 local masons and carpenters in Nepal
• Pre-earthquake-resistant hostel for blind students in Nepal
• Post-earthquake resistant schools after the Padang earthquake, Sumatra
How did you end up being affiliated with the Torino to Nice Rally?
In 2008 we did a trekking to Annapurna Basecamp in Nepal, where we stayed in a snowed-in guesthouse. We looked outside and saw a guy who seemed to be digging for something. This is when I first met James Olsen, who decided that the guesthouse was too comfortable for him. So he was moving rocks and twigs and moss to build himself a bivouac in the snow. I sent him some pictures and after a stunning 360 degrees sunrise over the Annapurna’s the following day, we all went in different directions.
Five years later I received a message from him, that he wanted to organize a biking tour and was thinking of linking Smart Shelter Foundation to this event, to raise funds and support our work. This is how the collaboration between TNR and SSF started from the very beginning of 2015. This has evolved in TNR raising the biggest part of our annual budget for the last 6 years. Really amazing how things can go in life!
Do you already have an idea of how the funds from the raffle will be used?
Between 2007 and 2012 we built 20 earthquake-resistant schools and buildings in Nepal before the big earthquake. Then, when the devastating 2015 Gorkha Earthquakes hit, our buildings survived without any significant damage, while old classrooms and houses around them collapsed. So we did a good job.
However, we have questioned the existing regulations and manuals from the very start, as they are highly confusing, contradicting, and incomplete. So after the earthquakes, we started an initiative called SMARTnet, which is an international network that aims to fully analyze the existing knowledge and to develop fully validated stand-alone building codes for traditional and vernacular building techniques in seismic areas.
Last year I successfully defended my Ph.D. on a needs assessment for the technique of rubble stone masonry as built all over the Himalayan belt. As a follow up we are currently calculating and computer modeling two case study buildings, together with 25 masonry experts from all over the globe. The key is to determine reliable material properties, which are non-existent for stone masonry with cement mortar. So for the coming year, our funding and efforts will go to further development of a simplified calculation method and lab testing of material properties in India. All our papers are publicly available and can be downloaded for free.
At the same time, we continue to raise global awareness and expand the promotion of the use of traditional and natural construction techniques. The world is not in a very great state, and our contribution is to reduce polluting materials such as concrete and steel. For this we have developed an International Call to Action, to address these issues and to attract more students to work on our projects.
How can I help Smart Shelter Foundation?
All the information is in our 2023 flyer.
Anything you want to add?
Yes, definitely!
We want to thank everyone at Kona for this amazing initiative to organize the bike raffle in support of Smart Shelter Foundation. It amounts to a third of this year’s budget and keeps our engine running in order to continue our important work.
So a huge thanks to everyone who has contributed to the event, and we wish you all a splendid 2023. Ride safe and stay healthy!
Martijn and Tes
