Saturday, December 24, 2011
It was 1991. He went north to a refugee camp in Djbuti. His wife, Sadya, went to the country with her family before going to stay with her brother in Yemen. For months, she did not know what had become of her husband, and so began the waiting. It would be more than a year-and-a-half before she would speak to him again and he would not see the daughter she gave birth to until the child was four years old.
"It was very, very hard," says Sadya, now 44.
Ahmed eventually made his way to Canada, settling in Ottawa where he had friends and starting the long process of sponsoring his young family.
When Sadya and his little daughter Maryam finally arrived in Ottawa, the child wanted nothing to do with the stranger who was her father, asking instead to go back to her uncle in Yemen.
It was both a joyful and a heartbreaking time for Ahmed.
"It was the first time I saw my daughter and she said, 'Who is this man?' "
But once the little girl started kindergarten she quickly settled in.
"To me they're just stories," the now 20-year-old Maryam says with a broad smile. In her third year of nursing studies at the University of Ottawa, she moves with a quiet confidence far removed from the frightened child who arrived so long ago in a strange land.
Ahmed, who was a public servant in Somalia, found work here as a commissionaire. It was enough to support his family, which grew to include five children, but not enough for them to get ahead.
Complicating the situation was a nasty health scare that struck their youngest child, son Abdulaziz. Born healthy and normal in 2005, he came down with a high fever when he was a year-and-a-half that inexplicably left him unable to walk and affected his development. The fever struck again about a year later.
Doctors have been unable to determine the cause, or his prognosis, and Abdulaziz, now 6, must rely on a wheelchair. Although the family has seen encouraging improvement in his motor skills in the last couple of months, their living arrangements have become increasingly problematic.
The family of seven rents a three-bedroom townhouse in Hunt Club Park with just one bathroom - on the second floor. That means Sadya must carry Abdulaziz upstairs several times a day. She shares a room with him, to help him during the night when he needs it. Maryam and her younger sister, 15-year-old Amal, share a second bedroom, while Ahmed shares the third room with the couple's other two sons, Yassin, 13, and Abbas, 9. It's far from an ideal situation.
Two years ago, the family applied for a Habitat for Humanity home, and then the waiting began again.
They were approved within six months, which meant they qualified for a home with a long-term, interest-free mortgage that sets payments geared to their income.
To get a home they were also required to perform 500 hours of "sweat equity" - in effect their down payment - by volunteering for Habitat at other builds, at the charity's Restore, or at home by stuffing envelopes, for example. Almost all members of the family pitched in and they fulfilled the volunteering requirement, minus about 50 hours set aside to work on their own home, within a year.
But the family's circumstances were unique and it would take another year before they could finally have a place to call home. They needed a bungalow to accommodate Abdulaziz's wheelchair and they needed to be near the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario for his many medical appointments. And that presented a problem.
"We'd been looking for a house for eight months," Habitat CEO Donna Hicks said at the groundbreaking in October. "We couldn't find anything we could afford. This was expensive by Habitat standards; we paid $270,000 and we're still in the process of fundraising to be able to get us enough money to completely pay for it."
Habitat usually spends about $130,000, plus another $75,000 in donated materials and professional services, to build a home, often on a donated lot. They also retrofit homes that Habitat families no longer need to get them ready for new families. This is just the second time that Habitat has done a retrofit like this to make it accessible, says Hicks, and the first time they've bought a resale home.
"We've stepped outside the box and stepped way outside of our comfort zone - because we realized that (the family) had some very special needs."
The purchase was made possible when Delta Hotels and Resorts stepped up as the major sponsor on the project, donating $75,000.
"When I saw the price tag on this house of $270,000, I have to tell you our treasurer gulped really hard," says Hicks. "We just didn't know how we would do it without a major sponsor."
Habitat has so far raised about half of the funds needed to cover the cost of the home. Renovation costs were kept in check thanks to donations of materials, 250 volunteers lending a hand and - another first for Habitat - a site supervisor who also worked for free.
The Alis' new home, on a corner lot near Bank Street and Walkley Road, is about five kilometres from their old one. It's a three-bedroom, stone-and-stucco bungalow across from the Jim Durrell Recreation Centre. For the first time, the family has a landscaped yard and a garage.
Although in need of much updating, the 1960 home was already partially accessible, having a ramp built to the front deck for the previous family, who decided to accept Habitat's offer despite having others to choose from because it was for a good cause.
Improvements included replacing the windows, furnace and hot water heater, reinsulating the attic, painting the home and making a bedroom, the bathroom and kitchen handicap accessible. The basement was also renovated to include two more bedrooms for the girls, another bathroom and a family room, doubling the family's living space.
And although the family has tried to be patient, the move couldn't come soon enough. Eldest daughter Maryam is most looking forward to finally having her own room.
"In university, I need to study, I need my own space," she says, conceding that her brother's condition influenced her decision to go into nursing. She hopes to work at CHEO one day.
While sister Amal is also looking forward to having her own room, she thought first of having more space for the family in general - having another bathroom, a bigger living room, just more room.
Abdulaziz, shy but determined to be included in the conversation, is also looking forward to his own room, while his brothers are just excited to move, although nine-year-old Abbas admits to being nervous about having to switch schools.
For Ahmed and Sadya, the move represents a new chapter in a tumultuous story. Finally they can realize the dream of home ownership.
At the dedication ceremony Dec. 15, where the Alis were given the keys to their new home, the appreciation felt by Ahmed, 65, was obvious.
"This has been the most unbelievable gift given to us, who were desperately in need of a safe home," said the soft-spoken patriarch. "We are very grateful to all who have made this dream come true for us.
"The dream of home ownership for many hard-working, low-income families is just a dream. Habitat for Humanity in Canada helped us make this dream a reality."
HELP THROUGH HABITAT
What: Habitat for Humanity National Capital Region is a charity whose mission is to mobilize volunteers and community partners to help provide affordable housing and no-interest financing that makes home ownership a realistic goal for low-income working families, in effect giving families a hand up rather than a handout.
How it works: Families pay for their houses, with mortgages based on the appraised market value. Mortgages are interestfree, with payments geared to the income of recipient families and not exceeding 30 per cent of household income. To apply, applicants must attend a public information session, be Canadian citizens or landed immigrants, have a working history of at least three years and be a family in need. Once accepted, families must put in 500 hours of "sweat equity."
To donate: Habitat is always in need of both cash and material donations. Call 613-749-9950, ext. 233.
To volunteer: To help out on a project, contact Peggy Winstan at 613-749-9950, ext. 229, or [email protected].
Details: To find out more about becoming a Habitat family, call 613-749-9950, ext. 225 or visit habitatncr.com.