November 16, 2009
BANGKOK (AFP) - Former US president Jimmy Carter launched a campaign Monday in which thousands of volunteers will build homes for the poor in five nations along the Mekong River, a humanitarian group said.
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.
"Over the years I have seen the lasting impact Habitat for Humanity volunteers can have, and I have been personally touched by the work they are doing around the world," the 85-year-old Carter was quoted as saying in a statement.
Carter and his wife Rosalynn began meeting the volunteers in the town of Chiang Mai in northern Thailand late Sunday, with the programme kicking off Monday.
The Carters and others will join local families in building 82 homes in the Buddhist kingdom -- a number picked to honor Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej's 82nd birthday on December 5.
They 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-storey housing for families in the China's southwestern Sichuan province.
Habitat for Humanity volunteers will also refurbish homes in communist Laos but the Carters will not take part in that leg of the trip.
Other celebrity volunteers expected to build in Chiang Mai and elsewhere include Chinese action star Jet Li, retired Japanese football legend Hidetoshi Nakata and Bollywood star John Abraham.
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.
