Today's post is a little different. My sister Rachel posted this on Facebook and I wanted to share with all my readers as well. I'm so proud of her for going to India and helping out with Habitat for Humanity to help rebuild homes in a poor village there.
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| Rachel in action in India |
Here are Rachel's words:
"This past May, I had the amazing experience of going to Pondicherry, India with a group from eBay/PayPal [who sponsored the trip] and helped to build homes with Habitat for Humanity. We are now raising money to help build a proper toilet and electricity for the main town center in the village. All of the villagers share this space for events, meetings, etc., and all of the future Habitat volunteers will benefit as well. If anyone would like to donate, the link is below. The website is in German, but works in Google translate, or right click in Chrome to translate.
If you donate and choose PayPal, it will tell you the currency conversion so that you don't have to figure it out yourself. PayPal will also do the currency conversion so you don't get foreign transaction fees on your card. " There is a minimum of 10 Euro donation to use the PayPal option.
I know money is tight and there are all kinds of things this time of year to donate to, and I don't blame anyone if you can't donate! But just a couple of bucks here and there helps a lot in this type of environment. The project goal is a modest 2,800 Euros (about $3,500 USD).
Here are some more photos of the place they are trying to electrify and and give a "proper toilet" to. ![]() |
| Current Community Center |
This building is used for weddings, community meetings including a women's group, and preschool classes. According to Rachel, "The women's group has their own microfinancing system they use to give loans to the community to purchase the materials to build the houses. It's pretty cool."
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| Future leaders in Pondicherry? |
There is no toilet in the community center. When people need to use the bathroom, they use a neighbor's outhouse, near some cows. This project will help provide a toilet with plumbing to this essential community building.
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| Current View from the Outdoor Toilet |
It's amazing to me how much I take running water and electricity for granted and how many people in the world are still doing without. So I decided to donate 10 Euros, which is about $13 USD in today's exchange rate, and for me is a very small sacrifice. That's the cost of a few coffees or a couple of bottles of nail polish, and to them it can make a huge difference.
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A child from the village that will be helped, taken by Rachel's fellow volunteer
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