The Global Village program is a series of short-term trips designed to provide an educational and spiritual experience within a cross-cultural environment. Program objectives usually are met through new relationships that team members form with each other and with their host affiliates. By living and working with the host community, participants have an opportunity to personally witness and contribute to HFHI's effort to eliminate substandard housing throughout the world.

Accepting the opportunity to live and work with an international affiliate is often a life-changing experience. Through your willingness to work in partnership with people in other cultures, you learn about poverty housing, development challenges, international economics, world cultures and HFHI's ministry and mission.

This program features one- to three-week house building trips around the world, with Armenia as one of its destinations. Habitat provides no-interest, no-profit loans to families it "partners" with so they can have a home. The partner family must put in hours of sweat equity on their home or the homes of other partner families and pay back the loan. Partner families are selected by need and ability to repay their loans. Habitat supervises the construction of the home and arranges for materials and volunteers.

Armenian Habitat currently works in Yerevan, the capital of Armenia, and four surrounding regions: Aragazotn, Armavir, Kotaik and Ararat. In the coming months, HFH Armenia plans to expand into new communities by building in Lori and Vayots Dzor. To date they have completed 54 homes in which 304 people live within their three years of existence in Armenia.

The cost of participating in a team is approximately $2600 (barring increases in airfare). A team consists of about 15 volunteers and the mission lasts two weeks total. To learn more or to obtain application materials, please visit the HFH Web site at: http://www.hfharmenia.org/ or email armenianhabitat@netsys.am.