Indian superstar joins Habitat for Humanity in campaign for affordable housing in India

John Abraham with a team of volunteers

Indian superstar John Abraham has joined Habitat for Humanity in a campaign to end poverty housing in India and around the world.

Through a public awareness and volunteer programme called "John's Brigade", the movie star and youth icon is encouraging Indian residents and non-resident Indians around the world to support Habitat for Humanity's indiaBUILDS campaign.

The goal of this five-year campaign is to enable more than 250,000 low-income people in India to move into safe, decent and affordable homes and to inspire others to champion innovative solutions for the estimated 315 million Indians who lack a decent place to call home. The programme also aims to mobilize 1 million volunteers from India and beyond and raise US$100 million to build affordable housing in India long into the future.

Through public service announcements, Abraham is asking his fans and supporters to join John's Brigade by volunteering their time to build homes and lend their financial support to meet the indiaBUILDS goal. "I believe to be happy in life you need a home. You need to go back to something. You need to go back to those four walls which belong to you, which you belong to", Abraham said. "We have more than 300 million people in India who lack proper shelter. Habitat for Humanity has come in at the right time and, with the help of John's Brigade, Habitat for Humanity is going to help us build a lot more homes for a lot more people."

Each year indiaBUILDS will feature a headline event to focus attention on poverty housing. This year's event is Habitat for Humanity's international annual Jimmy Carter Work Project. For one week in October, thousands of volunteers from India and around the world will join former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn in a village in Lonavala, Maharashtra, to build houses with local families in need. Some of the more than 2,000 volunteers that week will be members of John's Brigade.

John Abraham is a well-known name and face to those familiar with Indian cinema. As a result of his starring roles in movies such "Jism", "Dhoom" and most recently his starring role in "Taxi 9211", Abraham is considered one of India's top film star. His most recent English language release is the critically acclaimed "Water", directed by Deepa Mehta. In addition to his acting career, Abraham is recognized for his support of non-profit organisations.