Ayni to the rescue

Families' barter group tackles one another's to-do lists

In Bolivia, the natives call it ayni, which translates to "today for you, tomorrow for me." In Amish country, that same spirit of reciprocity and interdependence has inspired community barn raisings since the 1700s.

Today, in Raleigh, six families have created their own version of that cooperative effort: One Saturday each month, they gather for their own "barter group," taking turns helping each other with home-improvement projects ranging from landscaping and house painting to major repairs.

"It's a really simple thing ... just like-minded people who enjoy doing hard work and helping other people," says Jamie Butler, who started the group four years ago. "It's kind of sad -- everybody's so busy, people just don't do it as much anymore."

Butler, who teaches at the Arts Together school in downtown Raleigh, got the idea after she and her husband realized how overwhelmed they were trying to renovate their 100-year-old farmhouse in Zebulon.

"We sat down one day and said, 'We cannot do it by ourselves,'" Butler says. "So I sent out an e-mail [to friends] saying, 'Many hands make light work ... Are you interested?' And they were."

First up: chicken coop

The group started with six families. Their first project: building a chicken coop in Butler's yard. Since then, they've built fences, constructed a stone patio, screened in a front porch, cut down and removed trees, planted perennial and herb beds, installed bathroom tile, and done plenty of painting -- including painting Butler's entire house, a project estimated at $6,000. This spring, several families traveled to Boone for a weekend to help one group member's parents replace the floor of their mountain cabin.

They choose one Saturday each month as their work day. The families gather at the designated member's house about 9 a.m. and work until 2 p.m., with an hour's break for a potluck lunch.

The group offers more than free labor, members say -- it also provides motivation.

"When you know you have 12 people showing up, you get all the supplies together. You get prepared," Butler says. "Even if you don't finish the project, you're all rolling and ready to get finished."

Since the group's inception, three families have left and others have taken their places, but the mix typically includes a professional or two, including a general contractor, carpenter and electrician. Butler's husband, Patrick Shearon, is a professional landscaper with his own company.

"Everybody in the group has done work on their house, be it major or minor. We're all do-it-yourselfer types," Shearon says. "I feel like we're up for tackling anything if we have the time and resources."

Also hard at work on "barter days" are group members' children, ranging in age from newborn to 13.

"We always try to have jobs available that they can do," Butler says. "Last time, I put all the kids in my garden, and they weeded the whole thing. Of course, they did a lot of playing, too. But the older kids watch the younger ones. ... It's just such a great thing to teach them -- we're all here to help each other."

The group reminds member Evan Covington Chavez of her past experience in Latin America with Habitat for Humanity.

"When I was in Bolivia, it was ayni - that means 'You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours.' It's traditional; it goes back to Inca times, when people did ayni the same way we barter," says Chavez, who works for the Durham-based Self-Help, a statewide credit union and affordable-housing developer. "One of the things that shocked me coming back to the [United] States was how individualistic our culture is. Barter goes against that."