Building another South in Oued El Khil: Aesthetics of Resistance

Oued El Khil, a few kilometers from the relatively recently founded city of Medenine, is a southern mountain village situated on the chain of mountains which cross the Tunisian desert and regions such as beni khedach, Chenini, Matmata and Beni Zelten. The small village defies the vastness of the desert and exclusion from the surrounding modern urban ugliness that has polluted and destroyed pearls such as the thirty-three Ksurs of Medenine, bombarded in the early sixties, and the oasis of Gabes, contaminated since the seventies by the chemical industry.

Despite governmental policies dating from the seventies which have aimed (through the manipulation of water sources and marginalization of agricultural development) to push people out of these fortresses and towards the coastal cities, the grandchildren of Oued El Khil refuse to give up their glorious ancestral history of resistance and their harmonious communal mode of life. This history is still visible atop boulders, the site of imposing and breathtaking Ksurs (Berber Castles). The village’s small community is strongly connected to the isolated, mystical, mountain-encircled valley; most importantly, they are committed to fighting the void.

Radwen, one of these grandsons, is a regional primary education inspector whose will to break the walls of isolation and defy the threat of nothingness have encouraged him to realize a dream most people could not even imagine. An odd structure has appeared in the dry valley slowly drowning in the sands of oblivion. In the beginning, locals were not sure what kind of unusual building was taking form nearby the stone quarry which has been eating away at the mountain for years. From afar, the eco-dome carefully built with bags of clay seems like some space engine landed on Jupiter. Every now and then, a cousin or neighbor stops by and stares in amazement at the scene: a team of builders working the clay with bare feet, cutting straw with bare hands and mixing it all up in one solid paste which smells of earth.

Gradually, the core team of eco-dome builders who are Radwen, his neighbors Walid and Adnen, and Breton friends Gwal and Nicolas, were joined by other neighbors who came to help or bring food or sweets which were remarkably delicious. Other interested individuals came to admire and give a hand by filling a bucket of water or simply encourage the team to carry on against all odds.

“It was almost impossible to get clay in such a dry environment,” Radwen pointed out. “Some people in the surrounding areas had initially given us permission to carry small amounts of clay we found in their lands for free.” However, he added with a smile, “some of them stopped doing so as they started to consider the unknown purposes for which someone would bother himself to gather useless clay.”

At the worksite, the atmosphere is friendly. We had the opportunity as journalists and European volunteers collaborating with local associations and rural schools in the Tunisian South to be welcomed by Radwen, Gwal, Nicolas, Walid and Adnen. Though most of us had little knowledge about and no experience in building domes, we divided ourselves into teams, everyone happy to do what seemed most suitable for her or him. Some helped to fill bags with the clay and straw paste, others worked according to the helpful instructions of established team members.

Gwal, a Breton who has been building domes in Mauritania and Mali and who has decided to “fill Africa with domes wherever they are welcomed,” thinks that “the magic of domes, apart from being ecofriendly, is that they enhance collaborative gestures that most people have lost within the individualistic mechanisms of a robotic modernity that is based on slavery in the very site of work.” He adds, “You don’t have to obey orders here, nor do you need to present your resume to join us. I am strongly convinced that this type of building is closest to the earth. We are working with clay, so all we need is some kind of terrestrial bond; I mean, solidarity is not counterproductive.”

Asked why he had chosen to leave France and come to the Tunisian South, he replied “Well, first of all, I don’t feel French. France is just a historically bloody and oppressive nationalism imposed on many marginalized Northern communities of Bretagne. We live in the mountains and we are marginalized like people of the mountains here. The French government seeks to destroy every eco-dome we build just to please the cement entrepreneurs because they know that this kind of building is more secure, more efficient and far less expensive simply because it is made of earth. I am here as part of a personal quest for the sake of which I am eager to continue travelling across Africa as I have been doing for the past decade.”

Needless to describe the generosity of Radwen since such a quality is typical of the southern and interior parts of the country. Commenting on the freshness of vegetables, the salads and the couscous, Radwen told us that his eco-dome is part of a bigger project concept that he is slowly and eagerly working to realize. A well is to be dug in order to provide the site with enough water for permaculture. “Our biggest challenge is fighting erosion and drought. Permaculture is the only efficient way of working the soil here. It should be adapted with the climate here, and for that reason I invite you to participate in planting the seeds of the Moringa trees that are to encircle the site so as to stop the advancement of the desert sand, fertilize the soil and prepare it for permaculture in spite of the dry climate.”

Many call Moringa the “tree of life” not only because it is able to reach three meters high during its first year of growth and twelve meters thereafter, but also because it feeds the soil and because its leaves and fruits possess unique medical and nutritional qualities that are precious in the south of Tunisia.

In addition to permaculture, Radwen, who always thinks in terms of alternatives, considers hosting people who would like to participate in advancing and promoting his project:

“The eco-dome and its surrounding permaculture space is equally a place where active and curious visitors may enjoy an exceptional stay in Oued El Khil, visit Ksur and discover the serenity of its mountains and valley while contributing to the work. It is not meant to be the mainstream exotic touristic destination. My project should promote love of the earth, solidarity and development solutions that are alternative to the status quo”