Building a Mountain.

Dennis Martin, Anatomy, Physiology and Kinesiology Professor of OT and PT programs, pottery teacher, and all around CITTI Project Handi-guy, offers his prospective of this year's project.

I look for the things you don`t see. The different views, sensitivities of individuals, cultures are based on a common need for natural dignity common to all but like seeds must be cultivated and allowed to grow...each in its own way.

My role in this Project was to build things, a portable ramp and an accessible green house for the children of Huambalo to tend, selling the sprouts for income. With each of these projects it was necessary to learn what was being done, what ideas did they already have, and what did they see as their real needs. (picture: the children fill pots with soil and fertilizer.)

With the green house three of us, Arcadio, Susan and I, started with an idea of using available poles, nails and plastic sheeting. This evolved into using pallets on the property to build a three-level mountain on the side of the building which gave the right amount of sun through the day. The overhang of the building added protection from falling volcanic debris and has spouts for the collection of water. Initially, I thought of it as a monument because of shape and weight. But on further thought, I saw it as a representation of the mountain that the communities depend upon for their sustenance. The thought of sometime in the future, to see the mountain covered with green becomes a monument to the efforts of the people that have influenced the realization of their “mountain”.

Seeds give rise to a future for the people of this, and possibly, other communities. Thank you for sharing.