Bamboo is an under-utilised sustainable building material already growing in Sumba. Bamboo is perfect for building in tropical climate, in just 3-5 years established bamboo patches can grow new culms up to 10m long. The challenge for bamboo as a permanent building material is that the borers love it, and in a short time the bamboo becomes weak and unusable.
Prailiu Bamboo Preservation and Construction is a social enterprise project to build beautiful, functional buildings from bamboo. We are preserving bamboo with borax in purpose built sheds that ensure no waste and no environmental contamination. This enterprise provides a new income source for local farmers, work and training opportunities for young people in our village and an alternative to building in concrete or timber currently being harvested at unsustainable rates.
Currently we are constructing our first Sumba Adat house in Prailiu village, drop by for a look!
Prailiu Village - East Sumba 