Nepal is out. And Memphis is in.
Former President Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn will help out on a Habitat for Humanity project Monday in Memphis. The one-day build partnering them with a local family and volunteers is in lieu of a bigger Habitat building project in Nepal that was abruptly cancelled last month.
The 32nd annual Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Work Project had been scheduled to begin on Sunday in the Chitwan District of Nepal. The six-day event would have built 100 homes in an area of the country that was particularly devastated by the the 7.8 magnitude earthquake that hit the poor, landlocked country last spring.
Not even a brain cancer diagnosis could deter Habitat for Humanity's most famous volunteer from planning to be there. On Sept. 27th, a grinning Jimmy Carter informed his Sunday School class in Plains that his doctors had okayed a delay of his fourth radiation treatment so he could go to Nepal.
But two weeks later, Habitat for Humanity cancelled the high-profile project due to growing civil unrest in the small mountainous country stemming from the adoption of a new constitution there.
Habitat said that the influx of critical goods and materials into Nepal - including gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and cooking fuel, as well as food and medical supplies - had halted or slowed to the point where it could impact its ability to safely and effectively complete the planned project. Adding to the concern, the U.S. Embassy in the capital city of Kathmandu advised travelers to “re-evaluate” plans to visit Nepal, saying that “normal safety measures” in emergency situations could become unavailable there.
Carter said at the time he was disappointed but that “Rosalynn and I understand and support Habitat’s decision. We will keep the people of Nepal in our prayers and ask everyone to do the same.”
And come Monday, the pair will pull on their tool belts and get to work in Memphis.
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