Sherkole is a hilly area of Ethiopia, and surrounded by bamboo in fields on all sides. Everyone utilizes this remarkable building material.
The bamboo has provided shelter for the 20,000 refugees who have found Sherkole to be their home at some time during the last 15 years. Tukuls are traditional small round houses with a thatched roof. The round walls are built with bamboo struts woven with bamboo and sometimes fixed firmly with mud. Refugees do not have a lot, but they can have privacy. Surrounding a few small houses to make a family compound is a high bamboo fence. Although small, their bamboo homes are quite fine.
One of the camp’s clubs is bamboo furniture-building. Refugees can learn how to create bamboo furniture and then sell their items in a small store. Using traditional designs and methods, bamboo is sawn, nailed and twisted to create shelves, chairs, stools and beds. They give the refugees a purpose and a skill they can take with them when they are gone and are comfortable, practical, and cheap.
To build a courthouse out of bamboo is a feat far beyond any of the international staff here. The local Shurta ,or police, have created this place to trial simple crimes which can be sorted out by refugee elders and authorities. Don’t be mistaken, there is enough crime in this refugee camp to keep the Shurta and the international staff busy. Any simple crime that does not need the higher authorities is tried here at the Bamboo Court House. There are discussions, debates and questioning. If the criminal needs further attention from Ethiopian authorities, he is held in a small mudbrick room with a window (the Sherkole Prison) until they arrive.
Bamboo seats rest a weary bottom on every corner of the camp and our compound, tea houses and stores on the main road have bamboo foundations and walls. Bamboo walking sticks help the older generation and bamboo serves as children’s play things. Firewood is a four hour walk away, so bamboo serves as a quick fire source. Bamboo walls ensure privacy in the UN compound. Bamboo is the material my small home is made from. Bamboo serves so many purposes, without it this camp would be dilapidated and sad. Sherkole, they say, is the ‘5 Star’ refugee camp of Ethiopia. The bamboo helps it achieve this ‘status’.
It is lucky that bamboo regenerates every year.
There will always be bamboo, but let’s hope there will not always be refugees here to use it.
