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Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Work Project 2009: Qionglai City, China's Sichuan Province
Feature Photo
Volunteers in China celebrated the final day of the 2009 Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Work Project with signs and plenty of smiles. They braved snow and freezing temperatures during the week to start a new apartment complex to house families in need. Habitat for Humanity/Steffan Hacker
More stories | Photos/Videos Build day 5: Sun finally greets China build
The last day of the 2009 Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Work Project in Qionglai City in China's southwestern Sichuan province heralded a rare sight: the sun. The phenomenon had a usually reserved Habitat for Humanity China staff member serenading the whole bus with a Sichuan folk song "The Sun Is Out."
As the rays spread warmth over the build site, volunteers peeled off their down jackets to mere jumpers. Some brave souls even worked in their t-shirts. The sun made up for the past four days of shuddering cold and helped teams make progress on the walls for the housing unit they are building.
After the usual morning briefing, the volunteers gamely obliged with a group photo after donning work gloves painted creatively by children in a Hong Kong event to raise funds for survivors of the May 2008 earthquake in Sichuan. Then it was "and off to work we go," as one team happily sang.
Although the volunteers did not complete building the walls to the roof beam as planned, they were no less satisfied. Most arrived as strangers to one another and would leave as fast friends.
The volunteers knew that they were leaving the construction in very good hands. "We got attached to the masons. They were so patient with us and explained things over and over again," said Jan Lee, a first-time Carter Work Project volunteer.
Hence, it was with mixed feelings that volunteers put away their tools, thanked the masons and signed their names on the walls they built. Crew leader Olivia Wong said: "We cleaned up everything. The only things we left behind are the walls we built and the love."
Habitat for Humanity International chief executive officer Jonathan Reckford said during his visit to Qionglai Thursday, "As we build visible walls up, we can break down invisible barriers between us."
The work of more than 170 volunteers in Qionglai City was a beginning.
–Hiew Peng Wong
Featured photos and videos
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Habitat for Humanity’s multi-story units in Qionglai city, China, will mean new hope for hundreds of families living in substandard housing. Busy hands are making dreams a reality in Sichuan province at the 2009 Carter Work Project. |
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The work site in China boasts hundreds of busy volunteers, who are transforming tens of thousands of bricks and steel structural supports into simple, decent, affordable housing during the 2009 Carter Work Project. |
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Overview
This year, Carter Work Project volunteers helped build a series of multi-story, urban housing units in Qionglai City in China's southwestern Sichuan province. Nearly 200 volunteers constructed 20 Habitat for Humanity units as part of Habitat's Qionglai City Project. These housing units will house hundreds of families.
Habitat plans eventually to assist some 300 of the poorest families in Sichuan in this phase of the Qionglai City Project. These families lost their land on the rural outskirts of the expanding city as their holdings were consolidated for other purposes. Currently, many of the families stay with friends or relatives. Others live in deplorable and crowded conditions. Some rent a single room for an entire family. Without the work of Habitat, the families would have no prospect of a safe, decent, affordable home.
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