Habitat Indonesia and Volunteers Help Paint Houses for Low-Income Families
Commemorating National Awakening Day as well as its 25th anniversary, Habitat for Humanity Indonesia (Habitat Indonesia) is finally holding volunteers build again after being suspended for the past two years due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The volunteer build with the theme “Awake! Together We Build Indonesia” was conducted by painting the houses of low-income families in three regions simultaneously in Indonesia, namely Tangerang, Surabaya and Yogyakarta.
The volunteers build which was held on Saturday (11/6/2022) is part of a series of Build event to commemorate the 25th anniversary of Habitat which will be held until December 2022. “Volunteer build is one of the main pillars of Habitat’s humanitarian mission. Before the pandemic hit, volunteers build events were always held annually by inviting and uniting the spirit of volunteers to highlight the importance of proper housing and contribute to its provision,” said Susanto as National Director of Habitat for Humanity Indonesia in a press release.
“Volunteer build which was stopped because of the pandemic, has given a life back to Habitat as we stand here today, and I feel so happy and proud,” he added. He said that the volunteer build activities usually include foundation construction, painting, and walling. This volunteer build is arranged for house painting. In Tangerang alone, there are about 30 houses and 1 school that will be painted with around 150 volunteers.
They come from various walk of life and backgrounds, such as company employees, university students, artists, entrepreneurs. Five public figures also participated in enlivening the house painting activity. They are Hans Chandra (model/artist), Josh Kunze (singer), Matthew Gilbert (model), Okky Alparessi (model), and Nadia Tjoa, Miss Face of Humanity 2022. In Surabaya and Yogyakarta alone, the volunteers build was attended by dozens of volunteers.
The painting in the three areas was carried out to create a beautiful village which is expected to make the environment neater, brighter and able to encourage people to keep their homes clean and not look slum anymore. The hope is, not only to beautify the house, but this painting to become a symbol of standing back up and changes that will make life better in the near future, especially after the pandemic.
Head of Sub-district, Mauk Arif Rahman, was grateful to Habitat, donors, and volunteers for the assistance provided. “For about 10 years, Habitat has been present here in Mauk District and has built around 800-900 housing units. In addition to providing houses, Habitat has also carried out various community empowerment programs such as training to improve the economy by forming MSME groups, providing business capital, and providing a new netizen‘s business sector that has started running in one of our villages in Margamulya Village,” explained Arif.
Arif hopes that the community empowerment program will continue to be carried out for the citizens, especially farmers, fishermen, and other public sectors, be it individually or in groups, to create a more empowered and prosperous Mauk community. “In the near future, together with the government and Habitat, we plan to turn the village into a tourist spot,” he concluded.
Subsequently, Habitat also launched its newest program, namely the construction of Rebricks houses where each brick consists of 30% non-recyclable plastic waste. The launch was marked by the construction of one house using the bricks. Development with an environmentally friendly concept is expected to be able to suppress the climate change crisis that often hits Indonesia as a tropical country.
“We hope that the construction with the concept of building houses made from recycled plastic bricks can be applied in various Habitat projects and in wider areas in Indonesia in the future,” said Susanto.
(Senin, 13 Juni 2022 | 14:16 WIB |Beritasatu.com)