The first TWP meeting of the year 2010 was held on February 1st. On the day of the meeting, it started raining heavily in the evening and weather forecast predicted that it would snow for the first time of this season. Despite such weather condition, 15 highly-motivated TWPs were gathered.
The topic of the February meeting was Habitat Japan's international projects. First of all, the flood rehabilitation project in Bangladesh (2007-8) was introduced. In the presentation, the approach taken for this project, in order not to end up with makeshift emergency support, but to minimize the possible flood damages in the future, in terms of types of materials used and the building structure applied in this project, was presented with visual aids, such as pictures and plans.
Second, earthquake reliefs Habitat started in response to the 1.12 earthquake in Haiti was introduced as part of a donation project. The presentation consisted of not only severe condition in Haiti and Habitat's support plan, but also Haiti's culture, history, society and economics, all of which are not familiar with most Japanese. Participants listened to the presentation with great interest.

A participant who is an expert in architecture and design and has involved in building hotels in Indonesia commented, "Even though buildings in Indonesia have concrete structure, they often lack reinforcing bars so that there exist many extremely dangerous buildings in Indonesia. On the other hand, I was very surprised knowing that Habitat, despite being a non profit organization, builds houses carefully considering from materials to structures. I was very impressed". In fact, Habitat has been working in Haiti for 26 years and has supported 2,000 households so far. 198 of 200 houses built by Habitat around the capital city Port-au-Prince have survived the quake and protected lives of people living in those houses.
The meeting was deserved to be the first meeting of the year 2010 and provided a good opportunity to introduce how Habitat Japan has been engaging in international projects in order to achieve our vision, "A world where everyone has a decent place to live".
Next TWP!---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
▼Date
April, 2010
▼ACCESS
Ben's Cafe(Takada-no-baba)
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If you would like to keep informed with TWP, give us (info@habitatjp.org) an empty e-mail titled "TWP". We send you announcement mails before the event.
What's TWP?-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Habitat for Humanity Japan (HFHJ)'s Travelers with a Purpose (TWP) is a forum for people interested in travel and making a difference in the world to meet, socialize, and learn from each other. Each meeting focuses on a different theme related to travel, housing, and volunteerism. Meetings also provide opportunities for attendees to learn about upcoming HFHJ global house-building trips. The group meets the first Tuesday of every month and is open to everyone. Entrance is free. We look forward to seeing you there!
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If you are interested in the previous TWP, click HERE.