Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Work Project Mekong Build 2009

November 2009
Join the Carters and the families of the Mekong

The Mekong River, one of the world’s great rivers, flows more than 2,500 miles from the Tibetan highlands to the South China Sea.

Some of the poorest people in Asia live in the countries it touches. Nearly one-third of the population (80 million out of 250 million) live in poverty, many on less than a dollar per day, despite rapid economic growth in the last decade.

“The need for affordable housing is immense in the Mekong region,” said Jonathan Reckford, CEO of Habitat for Humanity International.

The Mekong is one long river with the character of two different streams: the path of the upper river through China to Laos winds with rapids and a dam; the direction of the broad, muddy lower Mekong in Cambodia and Vietnam is, at times, inverted by tides. Because the river has been so hard to navigate is often has separated, rather than joined together, the countries in its path.

For a week of working together, the Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Work Project will unite volunteers and families in need of decent, affordable housing in these countries of the Mekong region: Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and the Yunnan Province in China.

“Together during the week, we will help hundreds of families into decent housing and bring attention to an area where many people live in deplorable poverty.” President Carter said.

The week-long building project will build with an estimated 300 families. It also will begin a five-year Habitat for Humanity initiative to work with 50,000 families across the five countries.

Habitat for Humanity has a strong and growing presence in all the Mekong countries. Richard Hathaway, vice president for Habitat for Humanity International’s Asia/Pacific region, said, adding, “This project will provide a significant boost to those programs to serve even more families in need of decent shelter.”

Watch for more details
We’ll update this site as planning for the five-country Mekong Build in November 2009 continues. By checking this site, you’ll get the first notice of news of the Carter Work Project 2009.