Babelyn’s Habitat homeowner story: In her own words
Babelyn (mother) and her family moved into their Habitat Home on Torbram Road (Brampton) in 2016. She is a proud Habitat for Humanity GTA homeowner, and she wanted to share her story with you firsthand.
“As a community of Habitat homeowners, I know we all went through a lot of difficulties in the previous places where we lived. Some of us resided in apartments that didn’t have enough bedrooms for our families to sleep in. Some of us lived in places with frequent infestations of mice and cockroaches. Some of us lived in buildings and neighbourhoods where it wasn’t safe for our children to go outside and play. And some of us experienced all of these symptoms of unhealthy and unsanitary living – like my family did.
Before Habitat for Humanity GTA, my family lived in a high-rise apartment building where someone was murdered. We were living in fear for our lives for five years before moving into our Habitat home. Our children shared crowded bedrooms, and none of them had enough room to properly sleep or study.
All of this changed when we moved into our Habitat home. We are so blessed to be living here. And we worked hard to get to where we are today. My family volunteered 500 hours of sweat equity helping out in the Habitat ReStore and on the build site. My husband and I attended numerous homeowner education trainings to learn how to be successful first-time homeowners. And we did it all while I was getting my post-secondary education, and my husband was working full time.
I believe children with high self-esteem and confidence can reach their full potential. In our new Habitat home, our children have their own bedrooms where they can fit a desk and study. After moving into our Habitat home, I witnessed that my children were able to study in peace, and improve their grades in school.
My daughter graduated from elementary school last year and was named class Valedictorian. I was so proud. She also finished top of her class for grades. I know a big reason why is because she had a safe, decent home with space and privacy to concentrate on her studies.”