New Home, New Hope

For a single mother in Vietnam, Habitat’s community-building work fills the gap.

In an effort to address the shelter needs of families with very low incomes, Habitat for Humanity often partners with other like-minded organizations to provide a housing component to existing community development initiatives. Such is the case with a Habitat partner in Vietnam named Nguyen Thi Loan. Earlier this year, a divorce left Loan and her children without a home. Although the court gave Loan half of the house she previously occupied, her ex-husband moved his new spouse into the house. This caused great tension in the household, so Loan, her son and daughter moved in with relatives.

Though Loan earns a living through farming and fishing, her income is far too low to buy a house and provide for her son’s education. Living with relatives became increasingly inconvenient, and Loan dreamed of finding a new home. After she remembered hearing about a loan program between Habitat Vietnam and the TYM Fund (a microfinance group), she contacted a TYM loan officer.

Upon learning more about the program and that Habitat Vietnam would provide her with a construction consultant, free of charge, she took out a loan of 6 million Vietnamese dong (about US$350). During the application process, Loan met with Mr. Tuyen, a construction supervisor. She said, “Mr. Tuyen was enthusiastic about designing my house and he helped me estimate the costs. I have no experience with construction and my son isn’t old enough to take care of these issues either. I highly appreciate his support.”

She is pleased with her new home and proud of herself for taking the initiative to seek assistance. And, just recently, Loan’s son passed the university entrance examination and now they are looking towards a bright future.