Nagapattina, India, 2006
The reconstruction project in Cooks Nagar was part of Save the Children’s ‘Tsunami Rehabilitation Programme’ which involved children and their families in rebuilding the destroyed settlement to provide a design that met their needs.
Children were particularly enthusiastic about the building process. They engaged in many activities, such as wetting down concrete slabs and foundation walls during the curing process, wetting the bricks before handing them over to the masons, and checking deliveries to make sure all the materials arrived at the building site. They also monitored the construction, ensuring that the workers did not mix up the design of different houses, which were individually chosen by the families during participatory workshops. During the process, children built an exceptional relationship with the workers and learned a lot from them, such as how to monitor the quality of materials, and how to test the durability of the bricks by soaking them in water for a few hours.