Family Story

This story is a part of a series we are publishing called “Habitat Family Stories”. They’re the stories of our partner families from all walks of life in varying stages of their journey. Many of them have been in their Habitat homes for close to a decade. Get to know the families we work alongside by checking the “family story” tag. 

In 1993, Bahorey was invited to the U.S. by his uncle who wanted help importing foreign goods for his business. Bahorey used the opportunity to apply for U.S. citizenship while going back and forth between Gambia and New York. In 1997, he married his wife, Haja, whom he met during his time in Gambia. The couple had two children but it wasn’t until 2004 that the family was permanently reunited in the states.

Bahorey took ESL (English as a Second Language) classes and worked multiple jobs to try and stay afloat. He worked his way up from a dish washer at a Wendy’s to the assistant store manager before a friend encouraged him to move to the Seattle area. He started out as a janitor before taking a job fishing in Alaska. After four years away from his family, he found a job in Seattle as a machine operator working 12 hour shifts, three days a week. Since Haja and Bahorey’s first two children came to the states though, their family had grown from four members to nine and all of them were living in a 3 bedroom apartment.

Bahorey worried that they would get evicted, especially since his 9-year-old son, Ali, was autistic and often the center of disputes with the neighbors. It was through his son’s social worker that Bahorey first heard of Habitat for Humanity. When a friend who went through the Habitat partnering process encouraged him to apply, he was sold. By 2013, he was officially a part of the Habitat homeowner program.

By the time he received his qualification letter from Habitat, Bahorey was already looking for other apartments in anticipation of his family’s eviction. They sailed through their sweat equity hours, eager to move into a place they could call their own. “My wife did more hours than I did,” Bahorey told us. The family is still striving to get on stable footing. Instead of enrolling in college, their daughter Fatou is looking for part-time work. But Bahorey feels that the Habitat homeowner program prepared him and his wife for the responsibility of owning a home, especially in teaching them how to maintain and repair their house. It’s allowed Bahorey to move into more flexible, self-sustaining work as a taxi driver. It’s encouraged him to continue investing in his community, particularly in helping other immigrants adjust to life in the U.S. According to him, it’s given him more freedom, a safe place for his family and a chance at “the American Dream”.

This story is a part of a series we are publishing called “Habitat Family Stories”. They’re the stories of our partner families from all walks of life in varying stages of their journey. Many of them have been in their Habitat homes for close to a decade. Get to know the families we work alongside by checking the “family story” tag. 

Ekaterina and Alexandr are from Moldova, Russia; a quiet, rural area known for grape farms and wine making.  They met while teenagers and later married and had 2 sons, Max, 4 and Michael, 3. Ekaterina was in college studying to become a doctor and Alex was a construction worker in their home town. They had a modest life in Moldova living in a small apartment and although they had a simple but decent life they knew that they wouldn’t have the same opportunities for personal growth as the US provides. They decided to follow in the footsteps of Ekaterina’s mother & father along with her 3 brothers and 5 sisters who were already residing in the U.S. She only has one sister left residing in Russia.

Ekaterina and Alexandr originally moved to Ohio when they first came to the US and later they moved to Washington. They fell in love with Seattle and the abundance of outdoor activities like going to parks, swimming and jet skiing. They became involved in a local Russian Church in Auburn and Ekaterina serves as a care giver at the nursery. “There is a great sense of belonging to the community. We began to feel more attached to Seattle and its people,” Ekaterina told us. That sense of community grew as Ekaterina and Alexandr began the process of becoming homeowners. “Our children feel more secure when the house is not owned by someone else. We are not worried that our children will be suddenly forced to change schools. We can get to know our neighbors and we feel safe.”

After 500 hours of sweat equity, working on construction sites and taking educational classes, Ekaterina and Alexandr closed the deal on a home of their own, to give their children more space to grow and play. “The time we spent building our own home increased our sense of pride… Additionally, we learned basic building and home maintenance skills that reduces the amount of paid labor needed for a house, which in turn helps reduce cost…We are fortunate to be a part of the Habitat for Humanity opportunity and we are appreciative of everyone’s time assisting us to make our dream real.”

This story is a part of a series we are publishing called “Habitat Family Stories”. They’re the stories of our partner families from all walks of life in varying stages of their journey. Many of them have been in their Habitat homes for close to a decade. Get to know the families we work alongside by checking the “family story” tag. 

      Annette was not a stranger to construction work when she applied too and was accepted into Habitat’s home ownership program but it did show her that she was cable of living the life of her wildest dreams. After working with Habitat to build her home, she continued to walk through doors she never thought were open to her over the next decade.

“I come from a construction background, meaning that my father and my grandfather … they were construction engineers, and they owned their own companies, and so on. But I also come from a time where women were frowned upon to be in that industry. Had I been their son, I would have had my own company. But what this did, was it just drove me. Because I got to play in the backyard with skill saws and hammers and picks and shovels all the time, and I got to do roofing projects with my grandfather and my father all the time. But never, I never really considered it as a position, or to do this kind of work. I started building these types of homes, and I was like what the heck!”

Annette was working in the in-home care industry when she applied to the Habitat homeownership program. The minimum wage was 10 dollars an hour but she had two kids to take care of by herself. She and her two children were living in a basement apartment with Anette’s sister to keep their “overhead low and their operating costs at a minimum” until something better popped up. “We called it ‘the hole’ because it was so dark. But we had some very, super awesome memories there. We made it work…”      She started her homeownership process when she stumbled upon a Habitat picnic. A single mother of two children living in a one bedroom basement apartment, she jumped into the application process. “They only had a certain amount of homes and there were hundreds of people there, literally, you know. And I just… I knew I was going to get a home!”

After closing on her home in 2004, she became a laborer with the local 440 union and worked on the Sound transit lightrail project. “I’ve done three tunnels since then… I had the juevos, to go walk in there and say I want a job, without being a union worker, without having experience in the industry, but I knew my background. I knew I’d just finished this stuff, building these homes, working in all types of weather, this building homes type construction being such a hands on part of it, I knew that it wasn’t even within my wildest dreams to know that I was going to do, that’s just the direction I went. And here I am.”

Though she says she didn’t have any experience, Anette was described as an overachiever throughout her sweat equity process. She completed close to a thousand hours, and even after she received her home, she continued to volunteer with Habitat, building homes in Othello Park, White Center, and Rainier Vista. “After our homes were done they started another project, and I worked on it… it was the idea that I wanted to be one of those people who got to meet the homeowners, and tell them that I’m also a homeowner.”

It’s been over a decade for Anette, her son Luis and daughter Marciana who are both young adults. Luis has an interest in environmentalism and sustainability while Marciana recently received a College Bound scholarship in addition to the birth of her daughter. “It was not something I wanted for my daughter at 18, but the Gods have smiled upon us. The dad’s involved, his whole family is involved. I’m involved. Luckily, we have the room here to be able to build a nursery.”

In addition to extending space to her daughter and new grandchild, Anette has sheltered several other teenagers and believes that the stability of a roof over their heads has given her children the confidence to go after their own dreams. “They don’t worry about whether or not there’s a roof over their heads. They’ve met along the way, a lot of kids that are not as privileged as they are. They’re living from home to home, or homeless, or been kicked out of their homes…. They’re able to, not only feel enriched, safe and secure in their home, but they can also open the doors to somebody else and say ‘here, come stay in our house.’”

Anette plans on moving into the next phase of her life in another five years. Her first passion is fitness and in 2016 she earned her personal training certification. She’ll qualify for the next level of retirement in the Labor Union while simultaneously building her own business. She has plenty of things to keep her busy and yet still finds more to add to the mix. She’d like to eventually volunteer with Habitat again and particularly likes wrangling with her garden. “I’m yard-challenged right now. I’ve got rose bushes and it doesn’t matter, I can trim them down, but dogonne it, they just keep growing… it gets to be overwhelming sometimes because the dogonne things keep growing! But I love my yard because it’s an ongoing project… it really is my least favorite and my favorite.”

This story is a part of a series we are publishing called “Habitat Family Stories”. They’re the stories of our partner families from all walks of life in varying stages of their journey. Many of them have been in their Habitat homes for close to a decade. Get to know the families we work alongside by checking the “family story” tag. 

Bashir was completing a service year through the Americorp program when he learned about the Habitat for Humanity home ownership program. He worked for an organization called the Somali Society helping Somalian teenagers overcome the unique barriers to graduating from American high-schools. “It’s not like they’re not trying. It’s the language barrier, and the new culture, what is going to be accepted. This person would come in and it’d be like, okay, here’s high school—you figure it out. And graduate. And mom and dad don’t have any experience for what it is to be a high-schooler. So we were trying to build that gap … We were focused on that.”

While attending an all-Americorp meeting, Bashir was able to network with other members serving at varying organizations, and he came into contact with a Habitat for Humanity member who convinced him to apply. He was hesitant since he was 1 of 300 applicants for seven or eight houses and he tried looking for assistance before with section 8 but he and his wife made too much money. Bashir’s family of 8 were stuck in a 2 bedroom apartment, often choosing between saving money to move into a better situation and having enough food to feed everyone. “Your stomach doesn’t know… it’s not like because you have a roof over your head you don’t have to eat today. So that’s what I did. We needed to worry about food before other stuff.”

So when Bashir got the approval letter from Habitat, he was ecstatic. “I got the letter saying I was one of the selected people, and I was jumping up and down! Thinking, oh my god, I won the lottery! …That was the unexplainable thing… It’s like, somebody hands you your future, this opportunity right there.” The partnering process turned out to be just as rewarding for Bashir as receiving the home itself. “Someone like me… I didn’t grow up around anybody who has owned homes… all I know is apartment renting. How to figure out how the system works, how credit works, how you invest and think for the future, that’s not the way I learned… There’s so many things they’re teaching you. To own a house, that’s easy. To maintain it is the hardest part.”

Since attaining their home, Bashir has noticed the pride his family takes in it and the willingness to achieve more they have all taken on. Bashir himself has taken on the role of President of his community’s HOA. He’s also started to see his children believe in their new living situation and the shame they had over their old living arrangement fell away. “My kids never invited anybody home. No room. No place, they probably thought it was just like ‘nobody wants to come over here,’ or they were ashamed of themselves. That would be possible. I know in this house, they invite people over… come over, stay a bit, hang around.”

Bashir looks forward to relying on the stability that owning his home affords his family, setting an example for his children to become good community members and citizens of the world, and retiring in his home where he can enjoy the vibrant colors his family has painted each room of the house.

This story is a part of a series we are publishing called “Habitat Family Stories”. They’re the stories of our partner families from all walks of life in varying stages of their journey. Many of them have been in their Habitat homes for close to a decade. Get to know the families we work alongside by checking the “family story” tag. 

Ridwan got his Habitat home at the beginning of 2016 after applying multiple times. While he qualified for the program, there were no homes available at that time that met his family’s space requirements. He, his wife, and their 4 children were living in a 2 bedroom, 1 bathroom apartment in the Capitol Hill area of Seattle. They’d lived there since 2007 but didn’t think the area was a good neighborhood for children. The area was experiencing a boom in nightclub and bar business and the family had growing frustrations such as scarce parking, rising rent and the safety obstacles to using public transit. “I had a feeling that I would became homeless because of the regular rising of the rent”.  Their search for better suited housing only turned up unreasonably costly results.

Ridwan Heard about the Habitat Homeowner program through his friend who is a Habitat homeowner in Newcastle. The application process was fairly smooth once Ridwan and his family was approved for the program. The family lives in a 4 bedroom, 2 bathroom home in Snoqualmie where they appreciate the access to better schools for their children. They’ve become very active in their children’s education and find that it takes up most of their time. “Community means everything,” said Asma, “you need people for everything, and I support where I can. Even if I only have one dollar.”

For Ridwan, owning a home gives him freedom to express himself and relieves him of the stress he experienced in their old neighborhood. He no longer has to worry about his children playing outside or police in their apartment building on a frequent basis. “We are proud to be a Habitat family…now we are a part of Habitat; we will stay a part of Habitat forever.”