Chiang Mai - Former US president and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn, along with 3,000 volunteers from around the world, will start building 84 homes for the poor in Chiang Mai's San Sai district this month.
The couple and Chainarong Monthienvichienchai, chairman of Habitat for Humanity Thailand, told the press yesterday that Chinese actor Jet Li, American country singer Trisha Yearwood and Japanese footballer Hidetoshi Nakata would be lending a hand.
Thai singer/actor Rattapoom "Film" Tongkongsap, as the ambassador for Habitat for Humanity Thailand, would also join the "Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Work Project in the Mekong River Region in 2009".
A hired hand, Jankham Duangtip, who was entitled to the 40th home under the project, said his family has always rented, so he was very happy that they would now get the first house of their own.
This house, made even more exciting by the fact that it would be erected by a former US president, would be a strong foundation for him, his wife and their three children in the future, he said.