Grand Bois Healing House

In the heart of the “Big Country”, in a place known as the Yakni Chitto, descendants of the Petites Nations and the Houma Nation have survived in the coastal delta bayous. After Hurricane Ida, Clarice Molinere Friloux, a matriarch of the United Houma Nation and her husband Danny Friloux, of Acadian descent, both envisioned building a replica of Clarice’s great-grandmother Celestine Verdin’s house, where medicinal gardens would grow outside, along with traditional vegetables and fruit trees. A home place that will be used as a classroom and site for celebration and skills sharing in good times; And in times of uncertainty or emergency it can be used as a battery charging station and emergency distribution/communication center for community.

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In the aftermath of Hurricane Ida, SH4RE helped to setup a small generator and wifi hotspots that assisted with helping community members gain internet access setting up systems so folks in the area were able to apply for assistance through FEMA and the SBA. Since that time, SH4RE has continued to supported the development of the site as a place where intergenerational gatherings can be hosted, where traditional skills can be shared and where circular economies can be activated. A place where Indigenous architecture and technologies meet twenty-first century possibilities that can support food-ways and a place where community-owned power can be accessed; a place where the wisdom of the past informs and inspires modern adaptations. 

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The Solar Medicine house is being built out of cypress planks, a palmetto roof and a mud and moss chimney like the original structure was constructed. Some of the cypress has been harvested from surrounding areas that had trees uprooted or knocked down from hurricanes; instead of the trees being left to rot we give them new life in the healing house.

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