A Special Reception Celebrating World Habitat Day (9/29)

The first Monday in October is World Habitat Day. World Habitat Day was proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly to promote the idea that everyone has the right to adequate housing.

To celebrate World Habitat Day, a networking event was held on the evening of 29th September at the U.S. Embassy residence, hosted by U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel and his spouse Ms. Amy Rule. Ms. Rule called for new learning opportunities for Habitat student volunteers who had to refrain from volunteer activities due to COVID over 2 years. This networking event was made possible by the gathering of corporate supporters of Habitat in response to Ms. Rule’s call. By sharing their own experiences as students and the efforts of companies to contribute to society through Habitat, students and business people were able to reaffirm the importance of decent housing Habitat aims at and the need to foster youth leaders in order to build a better world.

As an international NGO specializing in housing, Habitat works with many companies, organizations, and students to provide support. In particular, many university students in Japan participate in the Global Village Program, a volunteer program that builds homes in Asian countries. At the end of the event, Ambassador Emanuel told the students about the importance of serving others and how the spirit of service will be passed on to the next generation to build the future. One of the students who participated in the program said, “This wonderful opportunity has given me great courage to take action again with my fellow students. I want to believe in my own potential and take on new challenges.”

Habitat is currently preparing to resume the Global Village program. We hope that you will support and cooperate with Habitat’s efforts to foster young volunteers so that they can return to serve in the world.

To support Habitat youth program please visit here.

*All Photos Courtesy of U.S. Embassy Tokyo