Newsmaker
Former US president builds homes
(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-11-17 09:04
Former US president Jimmy Carter (in photo) launched a campaign yesterday in which thousands of volunteers will build homes for the poor in five nations along the Mekong River, a humanitarian 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 on Sunday, with the program kicking off yesterday.
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 Dec 5.
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.
AFP-Reuters
