Paa Bora: A Better Roof for Every Stage of Home
Published on
Feb 6, 2026
When refugees arrive in Uganda, they’re often starting over with almost nothing. Most families receive just two tarps and about $100 in cash, funding meant to cover every essential need, not just shelter. With so little, families do what they can: they stretch plastic over sticks, weave reeds into walls, and build something temporary to call home.
These first shelters are often too low to stand in and too fragile to last through the rainy season. Yet for many, they remain home for months or even years.
At Every Shelter, we’ve seen this reality up close. And we asked a simple question:
What if even the first shelter could become the foundation of a future home?
That question led us to design Paa Bora.
In Swahili, Paa Bora means “Better Roof.” It’s more than a name. It’s a new way of thinking about refugee shelter.
Mud bricks are cheap and familiar, but without stronger materials and better building methods they leave families trapped in unsafe housing.
From Emergency Shelter to Durable Home
The Paa Bora Shelter System supports a refugee across the entire arc of their shelter journey, from emergency response to the construction of a durable home.
It begins as a simple A-frame structure made from locally available eucalyptus poles. This geometry offers greater stability than traditional rectangular shelters, and its height allows families to stand upright inside.
A small change that creates space not just to survive, but to live with dignity.
The true strength of Paa Bora lies in its adaptability. As families begin to rebuild, that same A-frame structure becomes the roof of a permanent home. Materials are reused rather than discarded, saving both money and time while reducing waste.
What starts as a temporary shelter grows into the framework for a lasting one.
support Shelter Depot
Every Donation will impact our ability to fund the shelter depot efforts as well as train refugees to build and maintain their homes.
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Designed for What’s Realistic and What’s Next
The humanitarian reality is clear: no one has the funding to build a full permanent home for every refugee on day one. The Paa Bora system was designed to meet this challenge directly.
If we can’t start with a full house, we can start with the best possible shelter, one that honors people’s resourcefulness and plans for their future.
By reimagining what “temporary” can mean, Paa Bora helps families take their first step toward permanence, stability, and self-reliance.
A Better Roof, A Stronger Start
Every Shelter’s mission has always been to design with refugees, not just for them. The Paa Bora Shelter System embodies that approach: practical, adaptable, and deeply human-centered.
A better roof may sound simple, but for a family rebuilding after displacement it can mean everything.
A safer space to rest.
A place to cook.
The dignity of standing tall in one’s own home.
Photos by Leandra Graf
