Africa – Mental Flowers

English: Slum Kibera in Nairobi, Kenya. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Just as the decision for Kenya’s election is being determined, a look at an artistic and playful way to promote democracy:

Kenya‘s peace train is ready to roll.

Kenyan graffiti artists received permission from the Rift Valley Railway to spray-paint a 10-car commuter train with peace messages and icons. It may be the first train in Africa with officially authorized graffiti.

The train will travel through the massive Nairobi slum of Kibera, one of the largest in Africa, where young gangs torched, looted and killed in the spasms of violence that followed the 2007 Kenyan presidential election.

“What we’re doing with the train here now, it’s part of a civic education and a way to advertise peace,” says Uhuru B, a 27-year-old graffiti artist.

via Kenya’s Graffiti Train Seeks To Promote A Peaceful Election : NPR.

Kenya’s Graffiti Train Seeks To Promote A Peaceful Election (wnyc.org)
On topic: Kenya’s Graffiti Train Seeks To Promote A Peaceful Election (streetartbrooklyn.com)
Kenya’s Graffiti Train Seeks To Promote A Peaceful Election (positivepressagency.com)
Kenya campaigns for peaceful polls (capitalfm.co.ke)

I saw this article about a house made out of plastic bottles…

With a serious housing shortage but no shortage of plastic bottles littering the streets, the Development Association for Renewable Energies (DARE) – an NGO based in Nigeria – decided to build this incredible two-bedroom bungalow entirely out of plastic bottles! Although many in Kaduna were dubious when the project began construction in June this year, the nearly-complete home is bullet and fireproof, earthquake resistant, and maintains a comfortable interior temperature of 64 degrees fahrenheit year round!

More: Africa’s First Plastic Bottle House Rises in Nigeria | Inhabitat – Green Design Will Save the World

This led to further searches, and found some other cool houses made out of reused materials:

The daily green — Architects and homeowners are gradually discovering the benefits of shipping container homes. It turns out that the strong, cheap freight boxes make pretty useful building blocks. They can be loaded with creature comforts and stacked to create modular, efficient spaces for a fraction of the cost, labor and resources of more conventional materials. Shipping containers can be easily insulated and climate controlled, and they are being deployed as disaster relief shelters and modest vacation homes. In stacking configurations they are appearing as student housing and even luxury condos.

Plus for all you survivalists out there, they would be a great start to a less conspicuous (if left au naturale on the outside), possibly fit with a grounding net against EMPs, and generally fire proof.

New York Times — Salvaged wine corks, which are easy to come by, provide an inexpensive form of cork flooring.

Lots more here and here. What other houses made out of recycled houses have you seen?

One question I have, however, is how well some of these houses actually blend into the environments they’re built. Are they actually beneficial to the Earth because they keep this stuff out of the landfill? Does it make the families who live in these places’ lives better? Thoughts?