Zahabiya Kalil had applied for Habitat home more than once. Thrivent Builds with Habitat for Humanity helped make her dream of homeownership a reality for her family.

Zahabiya Kalil
My name is Zahabiya. This is my husband, Temam, and I am a mother of four—three boys and a girl.

I am Oromo from the Horn of Africa. I immigrated to America about 15 years ago. I was young and full of dreams. I didn't know what to expect. I came to a new life from the other side of the world to build a better life for me and for my family. It was hard to adjust to a new life, learn a new language, new culture, new food, and new faces. It wasn't an easy transition at all, but we made it somehow.

I was very determined. I decided to change my life by going to school. Three years later I graduated from St. Paul Central High School and continued with my education. In 2000 I graduated from St. Paul Technical College. That was one dream come true.

Right away, I started working for Ramsey County Department of Public Health in St. Paul. Every year we welcome thousands of new arrivals from all over the world. We do refugee screening for [them to become] Ramsey County residents. For most of them, that is the first time they [have ever] visited a clinic. Once they finish their screening we give them some education and resources that help them practice healthy habits at home, work and school so they can start building a healthy community.

About five years ago we heard about Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity through a friend who bought a house from Habitat. My husband thought we should try, too. So we called and submitted the application and waited [to find out] if we were lucky enough to be called. But it didn't happen.

This [time] was the third time trying [to get into the Habitat program]. [Our situation] was [now] worse—living in a two-bedroom apartment with a family of six was so overcrowded. Our kids didn't have a place to play. We didn't have our privacy, and I always worried who would move in as our neighbors.

I was so happy when I got the call from one of our advocates who told me that we were selected for the house in Chaska. The next day all of my family drove to visit the location of our future home. We drove past fields of farms. I remembered being a little girl on the farm and I knew right away this place [is where] I was meant to live.

Owning a home will give us a sense of achievement, security and family stability. It will give us safe neighborhoods to raise our kids and access to a good school system. It will give me freedom to speak aloud to my kids without worrying about the downstairs neighbors and the upstairs neighbors complaining. I will have a yard that I can plant and enjoy forever. I can plant a tree and watch it grow and grow.

Our kids will be the new roots we will plant in Chaska, but we will make sure the old roots won't die and they will never fully shake their identity. We are looking forward to learning and working hard with volunteers. We are going to build our dream home and hopefully fit happily into it so we can put our minds at rest.

Looking back in my lifetime there were things for which I thought it was impossible for me to do or to have. Or things that I thought would never happen. For that reason I thank Allah—or God—for so many things he blessed me with. I am also grateful for the privilege of enjoying freedom and security of this wonderful country as a citizen. And I believe that in every community there is some work to be done. Every nation has wounds that have to be healed and every heart has the power to do it when we have commitment.

I am so grateful to Habitat for Humanity for giving us a chance to be homeowners and for a new home for our kids.