BUILT in 1885 by indentured East Indians in Trinidad, the Avocat Mud House Museum in Fyzabad has become a historical treasure.
It is one of only a few such structures that remain intact nationwide.
As this country celebrates Indian Arrival Day on Tuesday, Karishma Nanhu, heritage preservation, and research officer of the National Trust of TT, explored the history of the Mud Museum at Siparia Old Road in Avocat, including the people involved in its survival.
The structure, originally a home, was built by Taitree, a hard-working Indian woman who went to Siparia in the late 19th century to work on a cocoa estate owned by a Venezuelan planter after working on a sugar estate in Couva.
A statement from Nanhu said Taitree’s story was passed on through oral history.
[caption id="attachment_1018599" align="alignnone" width="311"] The underside of a roofing tile. -[/caption]
She had a contractual arrangement in which she planted small cacao plants and was paid 25 cents per cacao plant that survived and bore cocoa. When the Venezuelan owner left Trinidad, he sold his estate to his workers, making them small proprietors.
Nanhu said using her savings, Taitree was able to buy 17.5 acres of land, where she planted cocoa and coffee.
“She was an industrious woman, and she also started a cart/buggy transport business. When she left Couva, she parted ways with her first husband, and their three children eventually came to live with her in Siparia,” Nanhu said.
[caption id="attachment_1018600" align="alignnone" width="317"] Chulha-making classes are held at the museum. -[/caption]
“She had one son, Chatoor, and two daughters. Her grandson, Dr Ramcoomair Chatoor, Chatoor’s son, would initiate efforts to preserve the mud house. She had a second husband in Siparia.”
Nanhu cited several documents on the importance of land ownership being a reflection of economic independence and power for the East Indian women in that era.
She also quoted several authors about Taitree working hard and saving her money to build the mud house.
Nanhu quoted Taitree’s great-granddaughter Rajwantee Bullock concurring that women were generally paid less than men. The museum is one of the two known remaining mud houses in Avocat.
Nanhu recalled that when the Indians completed their indentureship contract and were able to build their own homes, this style was familiar to them, as it was popular in India.
“These may have been built with slight variations since the Indians brought their knowledge and traditions from their different Indian villages,” she said.
Nanhu quoted the late architect John Newel Lewis who said a similar type of house already existed in Trinidad, called the ajoupa, which was the primary vernacular style in the country.
Before the arrival of the Indians, the Amerindians/First Peoples had already built ajoupas.
“While the ‘Indian Ajoupa’ was similar to the Trinidadian Ajoupa there were differences in the layout of the rooms and the use of clay as the main material,” she said.
“Another type of housing that
