A mission was much more than a church. It had housing for the Pimas and the priest, work shops, class rooms, a cemetery, a mortuary chapel , an irrigation system , gardens , orchards, and grazing lands. Without this community, there would have been no mission since the Indians were the main focus of mission efforts. One of the best ways to give visitors an immediate sense of a once thriving Native American community was the construction of a ki or traditional O odham house. The O odham house or ki is made from the earth and native plants of the Sonoran desert.
Sturdy mesquite forms the support posts.
The wattle and daub or jacal constructed walls are mud interspersed with ocotillo and saguaro ribs. The roof is mud and native grasses. Outside the ki is a ramada or brush shelter that provides shade for daily activities and a mud oven for cooking. The construction of the ki starts with four corner posts as far apart as people want the sides of their house to be. Most are about eight feet by twelve feet.