Hope everyone is either back home safely or enjoying some extra travels. We just wanted to post a final note to say we sincerely appreciate all you did in India. Your block-carrying, mud-slinging, song-singing skills were much appreciated. (Well, maybe not Bob’s song-singing skills, but, you know…)

And what you did went well beyond the houses you directly built. The money you raised will help Habitat India build even more long after we’re gone. Like we said, out of the money we contributed for this trip, $31,000 will go straight to building more houses.

And the attention you generated will help Habitat India, too. Actually, on one of our flights home, a man and his daughter-in-law were on the plane with us. When they learned we were in India helping build houses, the daughter-in-law immediately said: “Were you with the Women Build that started on International Women’s Day?” They said coverage of the event was all over the news and Habitat was impossible to not hear about that week. That kind of attention recruits local donors and volunteers – and makes future work so much easier for Habitat in Bangalore. 

If you’ve got any follow-up questions, feel free to get in touch with one of us. And we hope you will stay connected with Habitat in the future. Here are a few other ways you can get involved:

  • Plan another GV trip! Check out the GV trip schedule at www.habitat.org/gv to join a team. You could even do one to another location in India. There are also Women Build Global Village teams posted when they are available. Check out: http://www.habitat.org/gv/special_interest_builds.aspx
  • Get involved with your local affiliate. As Terry said, help in your local community is always needed. To find your local affiliate, just go to www.habitat.org/local and check out what’s happening in your area. And you could even get involved with a local Women Build (go to www.habitat.org/wb to learn more about the Women Build program). 
  • Donate, and you could even consider designating your gift to Habitat India. To do so, go to https://www.habitat.org/cd/giving/donate.aspx?link=1 for more information.
  • Become an advocate. Learn more, get updates and advocate online at www.habitat.org/gov. And you can already get people motivated to support Habitat, and even Habitat’s work in India – just tell your stories and show off those pictures you took (and maybe those CDs Habitat India gave us)!
  • Find even more ways to get involved! Learn more about Habitat and find a program that is right for you. Visit www.habitat.org/getinv to start exploring.

We’ll keep you updated with any other news and stories produced after our visit to India. In the meantime, feel free to post anything else you’d like on here. And let us know if any of you post pictures of your own online.

Photos taken by Phillip are posted online now, up here: http://indiateam2010.shutterfly.com/19. (And, yes, there are waaaay more than you could ever be interested in looking at!)

So, thanks again. And it seems appropriately cheesy to close with a thought from Mother Teresa: 

Unless your work is interwoven with love, it is useless. To work without love is slavery.

Thanks for making our work so meaningful – and useful. 

Back to the business,
Terry, Phillip, Lori & Nell