Homes & Slum Renovation
One in six people alive today lacks adequate shelter. As a result of poor shelter, polluted water and inadequate sanitation, 50,000 people - mostly women and children - die each day. The problem is disproportionately concentrated in the developing world. In India alone, there are more than 2.3 million homeless - and that figure doesn't include the 170 million slum dwellers. But homeless does not have to mean hopeless. In 1997, Embracing the World launched an initiative to build 25,000 homes for the homeless throughout India. Five years later, the goal was reached.
With an average of six people living in each ETW-built house, that meant 125,000 people had moved from the streets or woefully inadequate shelters into the safety and comfort of their very own home. Upon completion of the project, Embracing the World immediately announced a second goal to build an additional 100,000 homes for the homeless throughout India. To date, more than 40,000 homes have been constructed in more than 60 locations across the length and breadth of India. As part of ETW's response to the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami, homes have also been constructed in Sri Lanka and Andaman Island.
More Than Just A House:
Beyond constructing houses, ETW tries to build communities - paving roads, providing electricity, drilling bore wells and installing water tanks. For each development, ETW builds a community hall where residents can come together and celebrate cultural festivals. ETW also supports the community by providing tutoring for both adults and children, and helping the adults to find new work opportunities through our economic development programs.
Project: Homes Offers Slum Dwellers a Fresh Start
According to UN-HABITAT, 170 million of India's people are currently living in slums, where disease is rampant, and life expectancy is dismal. Even so, life in the slums is not cheap. To an outsider, it might seem unorganized, but life in the slums is dictated by strict regulations to which one must adhere. It's not uncommon to pay Rs. 500 (more than $10 U.S.D.) a month to rent a slum hut. Permission to build one's own hut can cost up to Rs. 10,000 - a fortune for a family earning Rs, 1,000 a month. And while electricity is often tapped from a nearby post, it is not free. For electricity, slum inhabitants must pay the slum leader a few hundred rupees each month.
Most slum inhabitants are only able to get occasional work at construction sites. The women often work menial jobs in nearby neighborhoods. Many of these jobs are also controlled by slum leaders. If the slum dwellers get into financial trouble, there are moneylenders to help them out; they apply steep interest rates and don't hesitate to resort to violence when collecting debts. The slums are also home to rampant prostitution and petty crime.
ETW believes in durable and sustainable developments, and our apartment blocks for former slum dwellers are built to last. While the site is under construction, ETW provides temporary housing for the slum-dwelling families, as well as medical camps and counseling. To date, ETW has successfully relocated 1,600 families from abysmal slums into clean, new apartment blocks, where they can begin their life anew in sunny, hygienic spaces with proper plumbing, water and electricity. Having proper shelter also means that children can start to study at home and adults have a secure place to start up home-based businesses.
- Alleppey, Kerala
- Pratap Nagar, Ghaziabad District, Uttar Pradesh
- Guddimalkapur, Hyderabad District, Andhra Pradesh
- Piplani, near SOS Village, Bhopal District, Madhya Pradesh
- Ambulangal Colony, Kochi, Kerala
- Hirisave, Hassan District, Karnataka
- Japanese student volunteer organization IVUSA joins ETW housing project
- Mulki, Mangalore District, Karnataka
- Madhuvanahalli, Mysore District, Karnataka
- Amritapuram, Rameshwaram, Ramanathapuram District, Tamil Nadu
- Satyamangalam, Erode District, Tamil Nadu
- Amrita Nagar, Pradhatur, Cuddapah District, Andhra Pradesh
- Durgapur, West Bengal
- Telibagh, Lucknow-New Brindavan Yojana District, Uttar Pradesh
- Ernakulam District, Kerala
- Nagappatinam District, Tamil Nadu
- Nagappatinam District, Tamil Nadu
- Pudukkupam, Cuddalore, Tamil Nadu
- Vadakku Vanchiyoor, Kairakal District, Pondicherry
Clean Drinking Water for the Poor
In May 2007, ETW gave Rs. 3.3 million (approx. $85,000 U.S.D) to sponsor the provision of clean water to 7,100 families living beneath the poverty line in Chavara and Panmana Panchayats, Kollam District, Kerala. The water is taken from the Shastankotta Backwaters and purified.