Students from Waikato Diocesan School for Girls who helped build sleep-outs with Habitat for Humanity Central North Island feature in an international Habitat video celebrating its Youth BUILD campaign.
Indonesian singer-songwriter Vanessa Theodora Mbouw, known as vanessaTM, composed and donated the song “Start the Fire” which features in the video. vanessaTM is a youth ambassador for Habitat for Humanity Indonesia.
Youth BUILD 2015 reached record volunteer numbers
The international Habitat for Humanity Youth BUILD 2015 campaign peaked earlier this month when a record number of Habitat volunteers mobilised on a single day.
About 150,000 volunteers were building decent homes in more than 100 locations in Nepal on 21 March. The three-month campaign will have helped a record 10,000 low-income families secure decent homes with the mobilization of 500,000 volunteers across the Asia-Pacific region.
Now in its fourth year, the largest volunteer-driven movement in the Asia-Pacific region draws support from young people in 15 countries. Habitat Youth BUILD heightens awareness of the poverty housing situation in the Asia-Pacific region and inspires people to take action to tackle the growing problem.
“Each year, Habitat Youth BUILD raises the bar by inspiring more supporters to get involved in raising awareness, funds and support for Habitat’s cause in exciting ways. This year is no exception. In Nepal alone, 150,000 people will work on multiple sites in one day to build decent homes and hope,” said Rick Hathaway, vice president for Asia-Pacific, Habitat for Humanity International.
He said the campaign will serve close to six times more families this year, compared with last year.
Global Village volunteers joined the effort
For the first time, Habitat’s “Global Village” international volunteer teams are supporting Habitat Youth BUILD. Over 770 volunteers from Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong and Singapore have traveled to Asian and Pacific countries such as Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand and Fiji to build homes for those in need.
Where young people were building on 21 March
Here’s how some other countries celebrated the Youth BUILD day on 21 March 2015.
- Sri Lanka: 600 international and local volunteers worked alongside families to build houses in Muttur village, Trincomalee in the Eastern Province.
- China: In Shiming village, Guangdong province, 140 youth volunteers from Hong Kong and China worked for two days to build homes for low-income families.
- Philippines: An estimated 50,000 supporters from schools, churches, and corporations are raised funds, created awareness and built homes for 5,000 families at 10 build sites. Prior activities included a build by former and current beauty contestants and a mural painting contest in Manila.
- Indonesia: A fun walk for Habitat Youth BUILD supporters was held on 22 March, a car-free day in the business district of Jakarta.
- Cambodia: On 28 March, about 100 youth volunteers were painting and doing landscaping work at a childcare center in Andong, a slum area in Phnom Penh.
- India: More than 1,000 volunteers were building homes and sanitation facilities, and thousands more participating in awareness and fundraising activities.
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