October 21, 2009
WASHINGTON (AFP) - Former US president Jimmy Carter will head to Asia next month to lead thousands of volunteers building homes for the poor in five nations along the Mekong River, a humanitarian group said Tuesday.
The volunteers for Habitat for Humanity will build or repair 166 homes in Cambodia, China, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam on the November 15-20 tour, the Atlanta-based Christian group said.
"In an area of the world where many people live in deplorable conditions, we have a chance to help families improve their housing," the 85-year-old former president said in a statement.
The project will start in Thailand's Chiang Mai province where Carter, his wife Rosalynn and others will join local families in building 82 homes -- a number picked to honor King Bhumibol Adulyadej's 82nd birthday on December 5.
The Carters will then help build houses in villages near the Vietnamese and Cambodian capitals, Hanoi and Phnom Penh, and take part in the construction of multi-story housing for hundreds of families in the southwestern Chinese province of Sichuan.
Habitat for Humanity volunteers will also refurbish homes in Laos but the Carters will not take part in that leg of the trip, said Katie Evans, a spokeswoman for the group.
The Carters have devoted one week annually for the past 25 years to the Habitat for Humanity projects to help low-income people in the United States and abroad build and own their own homes.
Carter, who lost his bid for re-election in 1980, has also devoted his post-presidency to mediating conflicts and promoting human rights and democracy, an effort that won him the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002.
