It's been a while since we have posted to this blog but I just received this email from the Global Village Team and wanted to pass it along since readers of this blog may be interested in learning more.

Hope you are well,

Brandy

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Global Village Needs You!

Europe has an urgent need to provide safe and affordable housing for the working poor who struggle each day to make ends meet. More than 98 million people in this region live on less than $2 per day, that’s over 20 per cent of the total population. Millions of people lack access to clean water, sanitation and heating systems. The fall of the Soviet Union led to large scale unemployment, mass migration to ill equipped urban centers and severe deterioration in the housing stock that was once maintained by the government. This has led to severe over-crowding in small, dilapidated apartments which lack even basic amenities

We need your help. Please consider signing up for a Global Village trip to Europe this spring.

Poland (May 3 – 15, 2009)

Nearly one in four apartments in Poland should be condemned according to research done by The Economic Housing Institute. Almost one in ten shares a toilet with an entire floor of apartments or has no indoor facility at all, and approximately one in eight do not have a kitchen. Nearly 12 million Poles – almost a third of the population – live in overcrowded homes. These sad statistics highlight Poland’s need for more than 1.5 million affordable apartments just to meet current demand. With a severe affordable housing shortage, low-income families often have no choice but to live in sub-standard housing that threatens their health and safety.

Make a difference in the lives of Polish families in need of a simple, decent place to live. You might just find your own life changed as well.

To read more on this trip to Poland and to sign up, please visit the trip schedule at http://habitat.ca/tripschedulec235.php?PJID=106

Romania (May 10 – 21, 2009)

The people of Romania need you. The second largest country in Central and Eastern Europe with a population of 21.6 million, Romania is also one of the poorest countries in Europe. More than 15 percent of the population lives below the poverty line. Some 2.4 million Romanian’s live in extreme poverty. Many Romanian’s live in cramped housing and only half have access to piped water. Much of Romania’s housing stock is low-quality and deteriorating because of a lack of maintenance. A family of eight is more likely to live in a two-room flat than in a home with four rooms or more. More than 10,000 blocks of apartment flats erected before 1980 need serious renovation to their infrastructure, heating systems and roofs.

Please help us change the lives of a Romanian family by giving them a safe and secure place to live.

To read more on this trip to Romania and to sign up, please visit the trip schedule at http://habitat.ca/tripschedulec235.php?PJID=104

Check out our full trip schedule for all upcoming trips at: http://habitat.ca/tripschedulec235.php and use the online application form to sign up for a trip.

Many thanks,

The Global Village Team

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens CAN change the world. Indeed, it is the ONLY thing that ever has." Margaret Mead