Asked about his mother Lilian's role as a Peace Corps volunteers in Maharashtra way back in 1960s, the former US president recalled the Carter family's close ties with India



"Both my mother and my grandson were American Peace Corps volunteers. While my mother, a trained nurse, served as Peace Corps volunteer at Virkholi village near here working among leprosy victims, my grandson, my mother's great grandson, worked with the Peace Corps in South Africa," Carter said. 'We have great opportunity for people of all ages and religions in the US to volunteer in the American Peace Corps to represent the country and serve humanity.'

Asked about his mother Lilian's role as a Peace Corps volunteers in Maharashtra way back in 1960s, the former US president recalled the Carter family's close ties with India

Remember me for promoting peace, human rights: Jimmy Carter

Oct 30, 2006, 10:15 GMT

Caption: Former US President Jimmy Carter builds a house as part of the 23rd Jimmy Carter project in Patan Village, 100 kilometers (63 miles) south east of Mumbai, India, Monday, Oct. 30, 2006. 23rd Jimmy Carter Work Project will build 100 homes in a week for the underprivileged section of the society. (AP Photo/Rajesh Nirgude)

Lonavala (Maharashtra), Oct 30 (IANS) Former US President and Noble Peace laureate Jimmy Carter said he would like to be remembered for his efforts to broker global peace and championing of human rights.

'I have always been a promoter of global peace. When I was the US president I never had to talk of nuclear bombs or missiles. I worked between other nations for peace and human rights.'

The 48th US President (1977-81) was speaking to media during a break from helping out in the construction of House number 73 of the Habitat for Humanity's Jimmy Carter Work Project 2006, on the outskirts of this quaint hill resort some 100 km southeast of Mumbai.

It was near here at a village called Virkholi that Carter's mother, Lilian, worked as a nurse in the 1950s as a Peace Corps volunteer tending to leprosy patients.

Elaborating on his efforts for long-lasting global peace, the former US president said: 'As you might know that we did not enjoy any diplomatic relations with China for 35 years and I established diplomatic relations with China in 1979 as the first step towards lasting peace.'

Emphasising on the need for basic human rights, Carter said: 'I have always worked for basic human rights, a thing that all us should be concerned with. Freedom of speech, assembly and the basic rights to home, decent food, self-respect and economic rights are basic rights that every individual human being on the earth is entitled to. So I would say that I would be liked to be remembered for promoting peace and human rights,'

Asked when would Habitat for Humanity (HFH) and the Jimmy Carter Work Project's (JCWP) take their project for affordable and decent houses in China, the other major nation faced with an acute problem for housing, Carter said: 'We have a couple of small projects on in China. India and China have the greatest housing problems than any other country in the world.'

'However, in order to start a major project in China we have to get permission from the Chinese government. We are actively willing to participate in the Habitat's programme in partnership with China. You may see very soon Habitat's projects in China.'

Asked about his mother Lilian's role as a Peace Corps volunteers in Maharashtra way back in 1950s, the former US president recalled the Carter family's close ties with India.

'We have about 7,000 Peace Corps volunteers in the US today, who fan out into different parts of the globe and represent the United States of America.'

'Both my mother and my grandson were American Peace Corps volunteers. While my mother, a trained nurse, served as Peace Corps volunteer at Virkholi village near here working among leprosy victims, my grandson, my mother's great grandson, worked with the Peace Corps in South Africa,' Carter said.

'We have great opportunity for people of all ages and religions in the US to volunteer in the American Peace Corps to represent the country and serve humanity.'

Queried on the secret of his boundless energy and globetrotting ways at his age, the 82-year-old Noble Peace laureate said: 'I have a good wife (Rosalyn) who tells me what to do. The credit should go to my wife for that.'

'It is at the Carter Centre to which my wife and I devote most of our lives. The JCWP is held only for a week once every year; we are left with 51 other weeks. We have programmes going on in 65 nations on earth. Out of these 35 are in Africa alone. We come to Africa often.'

'Where there are civil wars (in Africa) we try to negotiate peace and help them with the problems. We also conduct agricultural projects, where we teach farmers and keep them away from the wages of war.'

On Sunday, Carter inaugurated a Habitat for Humanity project to build 100 one-storied houses for low income groups on a village near this hill resort. Over the next five days, some 4,000 volunteers from around the globe - belonging to the Habitat for Humanity's Jimmy Carter Work Project 2006 (JCWP)- will add final touches to the modern dwellings with basic amenities

© 2006 Indo-Asian News Service

Links to Related Topics (Tags):

Headlines: October, 2006; COS - India; Presidents - Carter; Habitat for Humanity

When this story was posted in November 2006, this was on the front page of PCOL:




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