WORLD HABITAT DAY and A POLITICIAN WHO IS A WORTHY ROLE MODEL for all of us

Since 1986, the United Nations has designated the first Monday in October as World Habitat Day. World Habitat Day’s purpose is to call attention to the current global state of the human habitat and push toward adequate housing for all.

We hope that by raising awareness and advocating for universal decent housing we can dismantle and alter the systems that reinforce and entrench poverty housing and make an affordable, decent place to live a reality for all.

Kristina Cummings and her 3-year-old son, Kaleb, 

in front of their new home in Birmingham, Alabama.

HABITAT FOR HUMANITY

THE CARTER CENTER

For one week every year, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, help put poverty housing front and center in the global consciousness and conscience. The Carter Work Project is an annual reminder of the desperate, ongoing need for decent, affordable homes worldwide. But it is also a reminder of the power of hope and the strength in numbers.

FROM: (For Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter of Plains, Georgia)

© 2010 By Alice Walker

You want to grow old

Like

The Carters;

Curing blindness

&
Building houses

For

The Poor;

Making friends of those

Who believe

They must fight.

You want to grow old

Like

The Carters

Holding hands

With someone

You love

&
Riding bicycles

Leisurely

Where the ground

Is well known

& perfectly

Flat.

You want to find

And keep to the path

Laid down

Inside you

Such a long time

Ago.

You want to grow old

Like

The Carters:

Serene. Eyes

Twinkling

To be accused

Of

Not getting

It right.

Upfront, upright.

Speaking what to you is true.