Habitat for Humanity of Greater Sacramento Makes Dreams a Reality
By Ras H. Siddiqui
Habitat for Humanity is an international organization which remains at the forefront of providing affordable housing in the countries and communities wherever it is active. Founded in the United States in 1976 with its headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia, Habitat now works in all 50 states in the US and in more than 70 countries. The mission of the organization remains “Seeking to put God’s love into action, Habitat for Humanity brings people together to build homes, communities and hope.” And its vision is “A world where everyone has a decent place to live.” Although it has a non-proselytizing policy and welcomes people of all faiths and backgrounds within its fold, it does live up to some very basic religious values, one of which is to assist others by helping to provide them shelter.
Nobody can argue that home ownership for many families has become a challenge in this country. And when one focuses on the state of California it has become a challenge on steroids. When this writer was first introduced to Habitat for Humanity of Greater Sacramento by area Muslim friends, local housing prices were slowly rising. In the past two years they have skyrocketed. And rents have risen substantially too. So where do families turn to get some relief? They apply to Habitat for a chance to own a home. And if they have a strong case, a bit of luck, and a lot of hard work, they get to become proud homeowners.
On Saturday, June 25, 2022, Habitat of Greater Sacramento held a Home Dedication, and invited the community to participate in a three-home key handoff at 15 Mandola Court in Sacramento. It was a warm morning but thankfully not the record heat that we encountered in 2017 when reporting on homes similarly handed off near Rio Linda. This time three lucky families reached the finish line here aided by the love of community that has become the hallmark of the Habitat organization. The three lucky families who were handed over the keys to new homes were Lay Soun and Vuol Kim (Soun/Kim family), Maranda Gresham (Gresham family) and the Syed Naqvi and Nafeesa Bibi (Naqvi/Bibi family). In this handoff, a family of Vietnamese immigrants, an African American family, and a Pakistani family were blessed with ownership of a new home.
Habitat for Humanity of Greater Sacramento President and CEO Leah Miller took the opportunity to officially welcome everyone. She said that it was all about the community coming together and that Sacramento is a really unique, beautiful, wonderful place to live. It is a place where we take care of each other and celebrate our differences. She added that she is very happy at her job, to be a part of the breaking down of barriers of misunderstanding between people of diverse backgrounds. This is the outcome of projects where the community works together for a common goal. In the end we discover that we are not all too different when we have a chance to work together to do something positive, said Miller.
A few dignitaries present were also invited to speak but due to space constraints we will focus on the lucky families here, the three who finally achieved their American Dream of owning a home. As Akram Keval, a Board Member of the Interfaith Council of Greater Sacramento and long-time Habitat volunteer explained, there are a very large number of applicants for each home. But there is no handout being given. Amongst the many factors considered to qualify, there is sweat equity involved (500 hours of verified volunteer work on the homebuilding project is required from each family). And a zero percent or interest free 30-year loan is the cherry on top. The loan must be paid on time every month till it is paid off just like any other mortgage.
New homeowner Vuol Kim was the first to speak on behalf of his family and thanked all other Habitat families too for contributing to their effort. He shared his journey, escaping from Vietnam in 1979 (through Thailand, Cambodia and Laos) and finally reaching the United States. He added that his wife was born in Thailand, came to the US when she was just months old, and that all their four kids were born in Sutter Memorial Hospital in Sacramento. He said that he lived in New York for 33 years and used to work for the federal government. Voul said that his family of 6 was living in a two-bedroom 1 bath apartment before now. He also said that they were blessed to be a part of the Habitat home ownership and added a humorous note on when he painfully discovered what “sweat equity” really entailed!
Maranda Gresham spoke next. She introduced her children and said that she was born and raised right here in Sacramento and worked for the California Department of Justice. She added that she had always wanted to own her own place, but when she was approved (for a loan), it was never enough to buy a nice home in a suitable neighborhood. Maranda said that she was born in California, worked for (the State of) California but still could not afford to live in California until she got that call (from Habitat). She gave details of her challenging conditions while living in a small two-bedroom apartment for which she was paying $2,000 per month. She explained her nervousness when she received word that she had been accepted into the program: she started shaking and almost passed out. She also shared her sweat equity experience and thanked all the people associated with this Habitat program.
Last amongst the lucky new homeowners, Syed Naqvi, came up to speak accompanied by his wife Nafeesa along with their children. He said that first of all he was thankful to Almighty God for showing him the way to Habitat for Humanity and that he was grateful to all the Godly Hands that created this small community that built our (new) home. Syed shared his own journey from Pakistan where he was a victim of ethnic violence. His difficult roller coaster life there included the tragic death of his parents before he was able to complete high school. Despite that he completed his bachelor’s degree in 1998 and started his professional life as an Art Teacher for six years. He later started his own business, a computer institute teaching mainly female students. Some extremists were not happy, he said. The environment there deteriorated, and his computer institute was burnt down. At that time, he decided to migrate for his family’s future, said Naqvi. He landed in San Francisco in 2015 and arrived in Sacramento soon after. He applied for asylum which was approved in 2017 and his family arrived here in 2018. They all lived in a small apartment as the desperate struggle for adequate housing began. In August 2021 he applied for a Habitat home after hearing about the program from a concerned co-worker. Syed said that God heard their prayers and that he received a call that their application had been accepted which was welcomed by his family with tears (of joy) in their eyes.
To conclude, we can all be moved by such stories of true struggle and dreams of home ownership fulfilled here in America, thanks to Habitat for Humanity. But if one really wanted to experience what true joy looks like, this writer found it on the faces of the children of these three families entering their new homes for the very first time. Indeed “God is Great” irrespective of one’s faith.
