04/10/2012 [ tribune.net.ph ]
Some 1,000 youth will help rebuild typhoon-ravaged homes in Navotas City and Cagayan de Oro City during the Habitat Youth Build on May 12 spearheaded by the Habitat for Humanity Youth Council.
Habitat for Humanity’s 2020 Vision Campaign “I Build My City, I Build My Philippines” invites the youth to take an active role in creating city-wide shelter plans for Tagaytay, Albay, Bicol, Taguig, Laguna and Tondo. In line with this, the Habitat Youth Council hopes to raise P40 million and build a total of 459 homes by 2012.
The Habitat Youth Council officers chose Navotas as the pilot city for their project. Habitat young leaders raised funds and awareness for the Generation Now to be involved in improving the lot of their fellow Filipinos, and be part of the Philippines’ housing solution.
They met with their fellow youth leaders in the different Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) of Navotas City and interviewed hundreds of applicants who wanted to help improve the housing situation in the Philippines through Habitat’s Citywide Shelter Plan.
“Habitat works with local government units to create an over-all city-wide shelter plan, where we can address the need of one city at a time….and this year, for this Youth Build we focused on Navotas City. We encourage other youth to adopt their own respective cities and (discuss) with their local leaders and with Habitat for Humanity ways to decrease nationwide poverty by 20 percent by the year 2020,” Habitat’s Alexandra Eduque said. “It is a tremendous feat, but we can only get the job done if we work together. Sometimes, the grown-ups need our help, too.”
“We are really thankful to Habitat for Humanity for choosing Navotas as their pilot city, and for helping us rebuild the lives of our fellow Navoteños,” said Navotas SK Chairman Solomon Homoroc, who was born and raised in that city and wishes to live in it for the rest of his life.
“Navotas has taught me a lot of things I would not have learned elsewhere. It has taught me to respect the rights of the poor,” he said.
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