BUILDING HOPE IN BANGALORE

In November 2010, four members of the Rufus Leonard team will take part in a truly life-changing experience. Emily-Faye Duncan, Jaclyn Townshend, Neil Svensen and Sarahjayne Matthew will be part of a 21-strong team of volunteers travelling to the slums of Bangalore in India to spend a week building homes for local families.

Why we’re getting involved

India is home to 22% of the world’s poor and needs 2.5 million new homes every year just to keep pace with its growing population. In Bangalore, India’s third most populous city, a typical labourer works 12 hours a day, 7 days a week - and the average household income for a family of 4-6 is approximately 36,000 rupees a year. That’s just £422. Families are trapped in a daily struggle to survive. Housing is overcrowded, promotes ill health and impairs children’s ability to succeed in school. It erodes hope and self-worth. It is demeaning and keeps poor people poor.

What we’ll be doing

We’ll spend the week with a local family, helping build them a new and permanent home. Getting up early each day to travel to the site, we’ll dig foundations, clear land, mix concrete, fit window frames, plaster and paint. It’s going to be physically and emotionally demanding. But we’re told it’ll be humbling, rewarding, shocking, inspiring - and we’ll be left with renewed faith in human nature.

Why we need your help

We can’t do all of this without your support. To take part in this life-changing trip and make a real difference, we need to raise £2,250 each (£9,000 in total) to cover all our costs and contribute to the charities of NABS and Habitat for Humanity - so we need your help… and your donations. We’ll be holding fundraising events over the next few months – and of course we’ll keep you updated on our progress throughout our trip and after our return.

Where to find out more

If you’d like to know more about our trip or our charity links, please get in touch at: NABSBangalore@rufusleonard.com

Or to discover exactly what we’re in for, have a look at what happened last year:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPPlYI_Mfls 

http://www.nabsinbangalore.blogspot.com/

Thank you.