Gaza Teens Win Regional Earth Prize for Making Bricks from War Rubble

Two teenage sisters from Gaza displaced by war have been named the Middle East regional winners of the Earth Prize for developing bricks made from rubble. Farah Mousa, 15, and Tala Mousa, 17, live in a tent and have been repeatedly displaced since their home was destroyed in August. BBC News reported that the sisters developed the blocks not far from the tent in which they were living.

The bricks are made by crushing rubble, sieving the debris, then mixing it with materials like clay, ash and glass powder. Low-cost and lightweight, they are designed for non-load-bearing use such as pavements, partitions and garden beds, Farah Mousa told the BBC World Service's Newsday. The sisters tested the blocks by helping a neighbour hold down their tent in poor weather.

They lost their prototype when they were last displaced. "After our entire city turned into rubble, everything around us pushed us to think about a solution," Tala Mousa told the BBC. "Even the view from our tent window became the main motivation," Tala Mousa said.

"We transferred something negative into something positive by refusing to see rubble only as a symbol of destruction and loss. " Farah Mousa and Tala Mousa plan to use their $12,500 (£9,245) prize to teach others to produce the bricks and "participate in reconstruction themselves, instead of waiting only for outside help," Farah Mousa told the BBC.

The sisters plan to hold workshops to train some 100 young people to create the bricks themselves, aiming to produce at least 200 of them.