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Annual
“Jimmy Carter Work Project” Expected To Attract
Thousands of Volunteers to Build in India’s Commercial
Capital, Mumbai
 BANGKOK,
24th February 2005: Former US President Jimmy Carter
is to travel to India in October 2006 to join volunteers from
around the world to help build houses with families in need
during the 23rd annual “Jimmy Carter Work Project”,
a Habitat for Humanity program named in the former president’s
honor.
The Nobel Peace Prize laureate, along with his wife, Rosalynn,
and Paul Leonard, Habitat for Humanity International chief
executive officer, Habitat staff and volunteers will help
build homes in partnership with local families in need in
Mumbai (Bombay). The project will take place towards the end
of October next year.
Habitat for Humanity has been working in India since 1983,
and to date has built more than 10,280 homes, making it one
of Habitat's largest country programs. Habitat for Humanity
India builds houses in all regions of the country. New partnerships
are being formed with corporate supporters and non-governmental
organizations to extend the scale and scope of the Habitat's
activities in India.
This will be the third Jimmy Carter Work Project in Habitat’s
Asia-Pacific region – projects were staged in The Philippines
in 1999 and South Korea in 2001.
“Rosalynn and I have enjoyed working with Habitat for
Humanity for more than two decades,” said President
Carter. “We look forward to going to India to build
houses with families in need.”
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The Jimmy
Carter Work Project |
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Since
the first Jimmy Carter Work Project in New York City in
1984, President Carter has been drawn to Habitat for Humanity’s
efforts to bring hope to people and areas others have
abandoned. In 2004, the Carters worked with volunteers
to build 150 homes in Puebla and Veracruz, Mexico, and
this year the couple will lead Michigan in a statewide
effort to build 230 homes.
Selecting India was a natural for President Carter, whose
mother, Lillian Carter, known and beloved by many, joined
the US Peace Corps when she was 67, and traveled to India
to work with the people there. In her own words, Miss
Lillian was just taking the Corps advertising campaign
at face value – “age is no barrier.”
Then, in 1978, during his presidency, Mr. Carter traveled
to a small village, Chuma Kheragaon, in Haryana province.
So impressed and pleased were the villagers at the president’s
and first lady’s visit, they rechristened the village
Carterpuri, in his honor. To this day, every year the
villagers celebrate 3rd January, the day of his visit.
“Habitat has had great success with our program
in India,” said Habitat for Humanity chief executive
Leonard, “and we are honored to be able to help
in the aftermath of the terrible toll of the tsunami.
As we have said so many times, the need there –
as with everywhere – is so great, that the response
must be long term.
“Having the Jimmy Carter Work Project in India in
2006 will mean new homes for families, but just as important,
it will increase awareness and support for Habitat’s
work in India and elsewhere, and will encourage people,
the religious community, industry and the government to
come together to address the problem of poverty housing.
“India’s need is great, and this project will
not resolve that, but it will be another step in our long
but determined journey to erase poverty housing from the
face of the earth.”
President Carter’s longstanding relationship with
Habitat for Humanity began in 1984 when he donated one
day of his carpentry skills and manual labor at a work
site in Americus, Georgia, USA, home to Habitat’s
international headquarters. Later that same year, the
Carters led their first weeklong work project, renovating
a six-story, 19-unit building in New York City. The Carters
have personally worked on Habitat homes that house more
than 10,000 people around the world. |
HFH Reconstructing Tsunami-damaged
Homes in India
urrently, Habitat is continuing to work in India in the wake
of the tragic December tsunami that struck many countries
in the Indian Ocean basin. More than 11,000 people were killed
in India by the tsunami. HFH India is focusing rebuilding
in the hard-hit coastal areas of Tamil Nadu state in the southeast.
Mr. Carter will visit Habitat’s work in the tsunami-affected
area during the 2006 work project.
HFH India plans to provide permanent housing for up 6,000
displaced families over the next two years, and more if additional
funds are available. The first families are already benefiting:
HFH staff and volunteers have repaired and renovated homes
for about 100 families, in Kanyakumari. HFH India expects
to start building new replacement homes for other families
once government land policies are approved.
A key part of Habitat’s tsunami response is a series
of disaster response technical centers where families will
be taught skills to help them build their homes and to produce
construction materials such as block and tile. The first centers
will be based in Pondicherry and Kanyakumari. Each center
would support up to 1,000 families. HFH India expects to extend
its tsunami response to adjoining Andra Pradesh state in the
north and Kerala state, to the southwest.
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