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CNN Live At Daybreak

International Volunteers Help with South African Housing

Aired June 04, 2002 - 06:57   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: In South Africa these days thousands of volunteers are helping rebuild communities, like Durban, one house at a time.

More from our Charlayne Hunter-Gault.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHARLAYNE HUNTER-GAULT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): These hills are alive with the sound of building. One hundred houses in a week, thanks to more than 4,000 volunteers from all over the world, including Indiana.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're a friend to Africa.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yeah, great.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And it's wonderful -- wonderful.

HUNTER-GAULT: Doing her part, the widow of American baseball hero Jackie Robinson.

RACHEL ROBINSON, HABITAT VOLUNTEER: He would think I was insane, but he would be proud.

HUNTER-GAULT: Near by, first, one former president, Kenneth Kaunda, of neighboring Zambia, and then another. For 19 years, the Carter family has spent one week out of every year building houses somewhere in the world. This one is for Maumbo Emkiza (ph) and his family of four.

JIMMY CARTER, FMR. PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The worst problem that the world faces, in my opinion, in this new millennium, is a growing chasm between rich people and poor people. It's not only very severe and very deep and very wide, but it's getting worse every year. We need to share what we have with others.

HUNTER-GAULT: The Durban mayor welcomed the sentiment and the project.

MAYOR OBED MLABA, DURBAN, SOUTH AFRICA: The whole concept brings back our old African tradition, and that is that of working together when you're building a house, when you're harvesting in the fields as one community. HUNTER-GAULT: The mayor says this program provides a model for speeding up housing delivery. The black-led government has built more than a million houses since coming to power in 1994. Still, more than seven million people live in shacks; one of them, Patience Lisa (ph), a 36-year-old domestic worker who earns less than the equivalent of about $100 per month. She lives here with her 13-year-old son, who has to study by candlelight because there's no electricity.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's very, very tough. Tough, tough, tough, tough.

HUNTER-GAULT: But patience has paid off for Patience, thanks to a loan from Habitat and her hard work, this is most of her new house. By Saturday it will be her home.

(on camera): Among other things, this exercise brings to a close still another chapter in the ugly history of apartheid. Blacks were forcibly from areas like this near the city to make room for whites. Now, blacks and whites are joining hands to bring them home again.

Charlayne Hunter-Gault, CNN, Durban, South Africa.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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