by Jonathan Reckford
As you read this, the dust has settled on Habitat for Humanity's 23rd annual Jimmy Carter Work Project in Lonavala, India. As has happened for more than two decades, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, led hundreds of volunteers from around the world. Their goal was not only to build decent homes with families who needed them, but also to draw the world's attention to the immense need for adequate shelter, in this case throughout India, where more than 300 million people lack a decent place to sleep at night. That would be the equivalent of every person in the United States living in deplorable conditions.
The scope of India's housing need reflects a similar scale worldwide, in cities and villages alike, where children are rained on in their beds at night, bitten in the dark by bugs and rodents; where parents work hard to establish a better life, but whose efforts and plans are quickly spoiled by the enormous pressures poverty imposes.
In light of the world's need for decent shelter, Habitat for Humanity has begun to look beyond the status quo, resolving through a new five-year plan to exponentially increase the number of families we serve. The global housing need--and the pace at which it is climbing--demands that we find new ways to get more families into decent shelter.
Habitat's work in India is a perfect example of this. While its result was 100 safe, solid homes for Indian families, the Carter project fulfilled a broader purpose as well: to help launch an initiative called indiaBUILDS, which aims to raise US$100 million, mobilize 1 million volunteers and provide 50,000 Indian families access to decent, affordable housing opportunities--all by 2010.
Habitat for Humanity has been working in India for a quarter-century, transforming the lives of more than 12,000 families in the process, families who now enjoy the permanence and potential that adequate housing creates. While I certainly would never minimize those efforts or understate what difference they have made in the lives of people, I am delighted to see Habitat staff and volunteers in India broadening their perspective--as we all must--to envision new opportunities to respond proportionately to the housing need around them, to the poverty that has so bruised the hope and stability of countless Indians.
In our fight against substandard housing, we are committed to partnering increasingly and better, mobilizing new streams of capital and being an advocate for changing the conditions that cause poverty housing. With adherence to the principles that define us, a trust in God and a vision not limited by the status quo, we will create lasting transformation in the hearts and minds of those still seeking a better life in a better house--in India, to be sure, but also in communities across the street and across the ocean.
Jonathan T.M. Reckford
Chief Operating Officer, Habitat for Humanity International
