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Habitat for Humanity is an international non governmental organization
(NGO) that aims to eliminate poverty housing and homelessness around the
world. Based on the principles of Christianity, we advocate the importance
of adequate housing and build houses as acts of God's love and teachings.
As we believe affordable housing is a basic human right, we continue to
advocate for having simple but decent house for all people and to build/renovate
houses with the volunteers gathered from around the world.
According to the United Nations, more than 120 million people or 1 out
of 5 people in the world live under poverty with 1 USD per day (United
Nations, 2003). Living under such harsh poverty, the people are not only
unable to benefit from education, health and medical support, but also
do not have access to social systems such as necessary nutrition, clean
water, house, sanitary structures like toilet, bath and sewage, and employment,
what is thought to be standard in Japan. The vicious circle of poverty
is directly effective to the life and death of many people.
In developing countries, housing in rural areas and urban slums is one
of the most urgent issues today. Though Habitat's work is focused on housing,
it's playing an important role in generating dignity in people and sense
of belongingness in communities.
Besides poverty, disaster and conflict also force people to inadequate
living condition. In recent years in Japan, we witnessed many houses being
destroyed by earthquakes such as Niigata in 2004, Fukuoka in 2005, Noto
Peninsula and Niigata in 2007. Habitat is also working in response to natural
disasters to rebuild houses and lives with the victims.
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Habitat Japan's recent activities includes supporting the recovery of disaster
victims from Northern Pakistan earthquake, floods in Bangladesh, earthquakes
in Noto peninsula.
Also in Japan, we work closely to the community.
Often times, elderly households have hardships in daily living as many
of them are separated from the civil society. Daily chores like small repairs
and rearranging the furniture seems so easy to young people's eyes, yet
it is a big burden for the elders. For example, changing a light bulb on
the ceiling could be problematic for many people, especially when they
don't have anyone to help them.
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By joining the project, I have realized the importance of such domestic
project. It is easy to imagine that elders living alone often have problem
moving heavy furniture like stove heaters in the house. Working on Mr.
K's home, we witnessed how difficult it is for the elders to keep the house
a comfortable place to live.
It was so easy to put myself into cleaning the house so that I felt time
was passing so quickly. Mr. K was very cooperative handing us the cleaning
tools and also very appreciative as he shed teas and thanked us at the
end of the day. I was moved and glad that I had joined this program because
I truly didn't expect only 2 hours of my work would make such big difference
in Mr. K's life.
The whole time we were working, Mr. K was telling us not to "clean
so well" because he was concerned about the maintenance after we left.
It was true to some extend, I thought, such project doesn't have much impact
if it's not sustainable. It could be difficult for elders like Mr. K to
be independent and self-helping. That is why I hope this project will continue
and decided to volunteer again.
"Building" houses was my only way of looking at housing issues
until I volunteer for this project. There are little needs for Habitat
houses in Japan, and even with the needs, it is very difficult to implement.
However, I recognize a significant amount of needs for home repairs and
cleaning in Japan. Since it only took 2 hours to clean the house, I am
confident that campus chapters can step in to make a big impact.
One thing I strongly felt was that volunteers must be sincere and committed
to this activity, possibly more so than they are for other programs. Mr.
K repeated "that's enough, I wouldn't be able to use things if they
are too clean." He might have been caring for us, but to me it sounded
as if he was afraid of feeling lonely after we left. I might be wrong about
his feelings but I thought that we should continue coming back to Mr. K.
I thought that this project takes a good planning and long-term commitment.
With a rapidly growing senior population, we have many households like
Mr. K's all over Japan. I am glad that I joined to witness and learn to
care for such needs in Japan. I think this project was a success.
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I started to volunteer with Habitat this April. My experience with global
village programs showed me the poverty housing issues in various places
around the world. However, my attention always was pointed to overseas
not in my own country. As I not only "built" but also "cleaned
and repaired" a house, I realized the needs for the people who already
have a house. For the first time, I looked at the poverty housing issue
as something that cannot be solved by just having the house to live. This
time, we worked in Nakano but I hope to do the same in other areas of Tokyo
as well. I'd keep in my mind the importance of being conscious about the
problems in my own country as I continue volunteering with Habitat.
There are many NGOs working on different issues around the world, Habitat
is one of a few organizations that considers housing as a solution to many
social issues. It is our role to contribute to the society's Safety and
Security by providing decent houses to the needy, such as low income families
and elderly households.
Habitat for Humanity has two foreign building volunteer programs: "Global
Village" and the "Jimmy Carter Work Project (JCWP)".
Global Village" is a volunteer program that utilizes the worldwide
Habitat network where volunteers spend 7-10 days in a different country
building houses. Volunteer teams of 10-25 people are created and are sent
to the host country. Participants generally apply as a team, though there
are teams that accept independent applicants or teams totally composed
of independent applicants.
The Jimmy Carter Work Project (JCWP) is a project where Jimmy Carter, former
United States president and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, and his wife Rosalyn
participate in building houses along with other volunteers from all over
the world. Every year since 1984 Jimmy Carter has spent a week somewhere
in the world building houses along the side of other Habitat volunteers.
It's a festival of the volunteers.
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Each year, 700 to 800 volunteers travel from Japan to America, India, Indonesia,
Cambodia, Kyrgyzstan, Samoa, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea,
Bangladesh, Fiji, Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Mongolia, and Romania.
One unique characteristics of the Global Village is that all young and
old, Japanese and foreign alike create time to participate, and also there
are a large number of repeated participants.
Another characteristic is that 80% of our volunteers are students at university
and high schools. Therefore Habitat set up the Youth Program to support
such young initiatives.
The Youth Program is to channel the youthful creativity, energy, and aspirations
of young supporters into Habitat's various activities so that they can
be educated and empowered to end poverty housing worldwide. At the current
time, many supporters of Habitat for Humanity Japan belong to student-run
Habitat organizations, called Campus Chapters (CC) and Campus Clubs (CClub).
Since 1987, about 900 Campus Chapters have been established worldwide.
As of October, 2006, eight Campus Chapters and four Campus Clubs are active
throughout Japan.
Campus Chapters and Campus Clubs are student-run Habitat organizations
that are officially recognized and their roles are significant for Habitat's
work in Japan. Their three primary roles are:
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14 of us joined house building at Taguig city in the Philippines. Habitat
community was surrounded by the slum area called "Squatter" separated
only with fences. There are 7 nearly completed houses and we started the
8th house's foundation. We also made blocks and painted walls under the
kind guidance of the local construction supervisor. We felt welcomed thanks
to other local staff, home partners and construction workers smile and
care.
14 of us joined house building at Taguig city in the Philippines. Habitat
community was surrounded by the slum area called "Squatter" separated
only with fences. There are 7 nearly completed houses and we started the
8th house's foundation. We also made blocks and painted walls under the
kind guidance of the local construction supervisor. We felt welcomed thanks
to other local staff, home partners and construction workers smile and
care.
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We drove for 20 minutes from our hotel to get to the community each day.
We split the team and worked on 2 different sites. Surrounded by the rice
fields, the brick house we built was in the community where the home partner's
relatives live.
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We started digging the ground for foundation, carrying bricks, sand and cement, building brick walls. Home partners seemed distant in the beginning but as we work together, we could break the ice even with the people in the community. I wish we could stay till the completion but the time we spend working together is an irreplaceable experience.
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