Habitat For Humanity India

Home Partner Stories

The Jimmy Carter Work Project 2006 was held from 29th October to 3rd November 2006 in Lonavala, two hours’ drive from Mumbai, capital of Maharashtra state in west India. More than 2,000 volunteers from 30 countries completed 100 units over five days. JCWP 2006 was the event that kicked off Habitat’s IndiaBUILDS, an ambitious campaign to provide housing solutions for 250,000 people over the next five years.

At the site in Patan village, the families have moved into their new homes. A thriving new community is taking shape, with a new six-classroom neighborhood school that is now completed on the site. Shop units have also been built and these will likely sell staple items such as wheat flour, pulses and other necessities. A dispensary/first-aid room has been constructed while a community hall that adjoins the school is nearly complete. The hall will be used for school assembly, community meetings and other functions.

Various initiatives, such as the registration of a society formed by the home partners, adult literacy classes and income-generating activities, are in the pipeline.

We share two stories of home partner families whose lives have been transformed by the generosity of Habitat for Humanity and its partners, though sponsorship and volunteer labor.

A permanent home, a secure future

To widow Jayshree Ananta Shelar, the 500 rupees (US$12) she paid in rent each month over the past eight years seemed like money that was wasted, like water down a drain.

The analogy might have been appropriate if her village had enjoyed a regular supply of water. Instead she and her neighbors relied on a shared tap that disgorged water for one hour each morning.

Now Jayshree’s life has changed, as Habitat for Humanity Asia-Pacific’s staff discovered when they called on her and her three children in mid-April 2007. They had moved into their new house, built during the Jimmy Carter Work Project 2006, about one month earlier.

Speaking through an interpreter, she said: “People come from so far away, for example Hong Kong, to help us. We’re lucky.”

Together with sons Satish, 20, a gardener, Rajesh, 19, a contract worker, and daughter Paurnima, 18, a student, Jayshree painted the walls of their 360 sq. ft. cement block home when they moved in. She considered the house, which came with a kitchen and attached bathroom, to have sufficient amenities.

Secure in their JCWP house, the Shelars are a more contented lot. Here, they are free to make changes to their house and their future is secure, not subject to any landlord’s whims.

Household chores have also become easier as water is available when they need it, not when an intermittent supply is available.

The feeling of security enables Paurnima to make plans for her future. Amid her comfortable and quiet surroundings, she wants to take up a course in computer studies. With a six-classroom neighborhood school coming up on the site, Paurnima hopes the school will present a job opportunity in the future.

As part of a community that helped build their own houses, Paurnima hopes to see people keeping their surroundings clean and looking out for one another.

Currently, the Shelars are making mortgage repayments of 633 rupees a month. In eight years’ time, once the no-profit loan is repaid, “we will have a house which we truly own,” Jayshree said with a beam.

Counting the benefits

Having water and sanitation facilities in a house are great benefits for Meena Suresh Bhalerao and her family.

And being a 20-minute walk from the nearest train station, Malavali, is an added bonus. Even if they return home from work late at night, there is no worry.

The Bhaleraos also like the fact that the pathways outside their house are clean and wide, unlike the uneven, dirt roads in their old village.

Meena and her family have been counting the benefits since they moved into their house, built during the Jimmy Carter Work Project 2006, in mid March 2007. According to Suresh, the family felt comfortable in their 360 sq. ft. cement block house though they might consider plastering and painting the walls later on.

The family has a good reason to be thankful. Meena, 45, her husband, her mother-in-law and three children used to be crammed into a village house made of stone and mud.

Although there is a communal tap, water supply would only be available once in five or even 10 days. It took Meena half an hour each time to draw water from a well, and making five trips to get water was a daily affair.

Secure in their new house are Meena, her husband Suresh, mother-in-law Fulabai, 68, son Nilesh, 20, and daughter Manisha, 17, neither of whom are working, and son Vishal, 13. Meena is glad that her youngest son has a comfortable environment to study in.

Of JCWP 2006, Suresh and Meena have fond memories to share of the volunteers, who included several ladies from Hong Kong, working alongside them, though they did not remember the names.

But one incident stood out: how the volunteers came to Meena’s aid when she cut her finger while lifting cement blocks. Concerned about her well-being, “they kept calling her name”, said Suresh through an interpreter.

“If we have the telephone numbers, we would have called the volunteers but we don’t know English,” said Suresh. Still, he asked after the volunteers and would like to say to them, “Always remember us”.

With a total family income of 4,000 rupees from Suresh’s job as a railway worker, the Bhaleraos opted to repay their no-profit loan over eight years. Their repayment is 633 rupees a month. To enhance the aesthetic appeal of their new home, Meena is considering cultivating a small garden in front of the house. Conscious of their role in the community, Suresh and Meena said they will do what is needed to promote the growth of the community.