Carter helps RP slum dwellers

Carter helps RP slum dwellers

MANILA (AP): With hammer in hand, Former U.S. president Jimmy Carter will lead next week the construction of low-cost housing for slum-dwellers in the Philippines.

Carter, along with about 2,000 other foreign and local volunteers, will put up the first of the homes in the coastal town of Maragondon in Cavite province, south of Manila, officials said Tuesday.

Carter also will travel to a few other Philippine provinces to lead the building of a total of 250 single-story concrete houses in a week's time, said Ruben Morales of the local branch of the nonprofit group Habitat for Humanity, host for Carter's visit.

Morales said the impoverished Filipino families, who will benefit from the housing project, will help Carter and other personalities, including former Philippine president Fidel Ramos, to build the houses.