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01 April 2010
Habitat for Humanity Helps Build Communities in East Asia
Nonprofit group brings people together to provide shelter, end poverty
Washington — In November 2009, former President Jimmy Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, traveled to Southeast Asia to meet with volunteers working to provide people in the Mekong region in Southeast Asia with decent, affordable housing. The nearly 3,000 volunteers from 25 countries worked together for one week to help provide housing for more than 500 families.
During the project, Habitat for Humanity’s chief executive officer, Jonathan Reckford, announced plans to construct houses for 50,000 families along the Mekong River in China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand and Laos over the next five years.
Every year since 1984, the Carters have traveled to different parts of the world for a weeklong building project with Habitat for Humanity. This annual event is known as the Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Work Project. U.S. presidents traditionally continue to serve the public good even after leaving office, often using their prestige to raise awareness of humanitarian issues. Former Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton established the Bush-Clinton Tsunami Fund following the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, raising $1 billion, $750,000 of which was awarded to Habitat for Humanity.
Habitat for Humanity (HFH) is a nonprofit organization founded in the United States that works to improve poverty housing around the world. In 2009, Habitat served an estimated 295,000 people worldwide and 134,000 people — 27,635 families — spread across 25 different countries in East Asia and the Pacific. More than 1.75 million people worldwide have been served by Habitat since it was founded in 1976, according to Habitat for Humanity’s FY2009 report (PDF, 3.27MB).
REBUILDING AFTER DISASTER
The Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Work Project is Habitat for Humanity’s signature event, but work does not end after each weeklong effort. Habitat continues to work throughout the year to meet its ambitious goals. Additionally, Habitat’s Disaster Response Program is constantly ready to respond to any natural disaster.
In September 2009, two major earthquakes struck Indonesia: a 7.6-magnitude earthquake in West Sumatra and a 7.3-magnitude earthquake in West Java. HFH Indonesia quickly responded to both disasters, mobilizing volunteers and families to rebuild 1,300 homes and schools. After reacting to the initial crisis, HFH Indonesia began a long-term effort to rebuild homes in Sumatra and West Java.
Habitat for Humanity’s response to Indonesia’s most devastating disaster, the December 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, has been even more extensive. More than 5,900 families in Aceh have benefited from Habitat’s ongoing efforts as of December 2009. Habitat’s resource center in Medan, established after the tsunami, has a stated goal of serving 4,000 families annually in programs spanning Medan, West Sumatra, the Riau Islands and Aceh.
In the wake of the 2004 tsunami, the United States mobilized search-and-rescue efforts and committed $656 million in aid with creation of the Tsunami Recovery and Reconstruction Fund. More than 60 percent of the funding was obligated for the U.S. Agency for International Development’s relief and reconstruction efforts in Indonesia. The bulk of Habitat’s disaster-relief funding came from American citizens and organizations that gave more than $1.8 billion in cash and in-kind donations to various relief efforts.
Peter Witton, Habitat for Humanity’s director of communications in the Asia-Pacific region, told America.gov, “the Indonesian concept of Gotong Royong [working hand in hand] is inherent within its culture and tradition, and is applied and integrated into the reconstruction of houses and lives after a disaster.”
Recovery projects are also under way in the Philippines, Vietnam, Cambodia, Samoa, India, Fiji, China, Burma and Pakistan. Globally, Habitat for Humanity has served 57,892 families through disaster response work.
REACHING OUT TO THOSE IN NEED
Habitat for Humanity’s focus remains building, rehabilitating or repairing homes to help break the cycle of poverty, although it is also looking for new ways to reach more people in need.
With support from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Habitat began hosting the biennial Asia-Pacific Housing Forum to help raise awareness of the importance of decent housing for poor and low-income families. In September 2011, Habitat for Humanity and the International Federation of Red Cross & Red Crescent Societies will hold the third forum in Bangkok, Thailand. The theme in 2011 will be sustainable shelter in an age of climate change and disasters.
Habitat also plans to expand its disaster-response capabilities, develop new financing and microfinance options for funding low-cost housing for the poor, and expand programs in many countries in the Asia-Pacific region.
In 2006, Habitat launched a three-year advocacy and fundraising campaign in Indonesia called the Love Indonesia Program. Thanks to the awareness raised through the program, HFH Indonesia has assisted more than 19,600 families as of December 2009. The organization plans to increase that number substantially during the next three years.
“These are just a few new ways for Habitat for Humanity to reach more people in need,” Witton said. “Our vision will remain an Asia-Pacific region where everyone has a place they can call home.”
