CHIPPING IN: Former United States President Jimmy Carter constructs a house as part of the project to build 100 homes under the Habitat For Humanity, at Lonavala near Mumbai on Sunday.

Meena Menon

With wife and son, he led 2,000 volunteers in the construction work

·  Habitat for Humanity is building 100 houses

·  Issue of water not yet resolved, says society president

Patan (Pune district): Sadiya Sheikh did not sleep much on Sunday night. She was so excited that a former U.S. President was going to build a house for her on Monday.

From 8 a.m., a group of 2,000 volunteers led by Jimmy Carter; wife Rosalynn and son Jeff starts building houses here for needy women under a programme of the voluntary organisation, Habitat for Humanity.

Mr. Carter, 82, wearing a black cap and a grey checked shirt, looks at ease and carefully places concrete blocks to build a wall, which is almost complete by noon. His wife places the cement while his son provides the finishing touches. He later tells reporters he has a good wife who tells him what to do.

Sadiya lives at Varsoli village, eight km from here, in a rented house. Her husband Aziz is a driver with a private company. "I was introduced to Mr. Carter and his family and they asked about my children," she says. The only thing she wants is to get Mr. Carter's autograph. "He was so busy in the morning that I did not want to disturb him," she says laughing.

Donors

Mr. Carter is not the only celebrity working on Sadiya's house. Towards noon, Hollywood star Brad Pitt makes an unannounced appearance. Pitt is in India accompanying actor Angelina Jolie shooting for a film.

One hundred houses are being built by the Habitat for Humanity and the women contribute Rs. 75,000 for each house. They have already paid Rs. 25,000 and the rest will be paid in monthly instalments over seven years. The rest of the money comes from Habitat. Major partners for the project include Citigroup, Dow India, Vedanta Resources, Posco India, Aditya Birla Group, Whirlpool and HDFC.

Australian cricketer Steve Waugh contributed his bit to house building in another area of the seven-acre site, apart from Pooja Bedi and Dolly Thakore. The construction will continue this week.

All women allottees are members of the Abhinav Cooperative Credit Society, which is part of the NGO, Social Action for Manpower Creation (SAMPARC) in Maval taluka. There are 24 workers for each house, says Tony Bible, heading a group nearby.

Volunteers from all parts of the world are spread out at the site. Billy Burke, an ocean marine insurance underwriter based in New York, has been volunteering in Habitat's programmes for seven years.

"I give 20 days on an average in a year to build or repair houses," he says. He feels there is a sense of accomplishment and he meets "wonderful" people.

Burke says everyone has the ability to build but they do not use that ability.

Peggy Ehrhart from New Jersey has come for the first time to India and this is also her first attempt as a volunteer. "I have been a donor for Habitat and this time I thought I would actually work on the houses. I do have some experience in house building, we often do plastering and things back home," she says.

Lack of amenities

Most women have already worked at the site for a month. However, many of the basic amenities are not in place and water supply is a major concern.

Abhinav Cooperative Credit Society president Kantabai Katkar says the issue of water has not yet been resolved. As it is water supply is erratic in Maval taluk from where the beneficiaries of the project come from, she says.

Ernesto Castro, project director, says that the seven borewells sunk did not yield water but they are expected to fill up during the monsoon.