Rising From Ruins (continued)

Adding an Attic in Romania
More than 2,500 miles away from Bishkek, the Habitat affiliate in Beius, Romania, has raised a roof of another kind.

Romania's transition to a market economy has been hard-won, with wages for working families dropping by about 40 percent. In order to give even families with the greatest need the possibility of owning a home, Habitat Romania has adapted housing styles in each of its now-five locations across the country. Projects include not only the more traditional single-family houses and duplexes for which Habitat is known but also apartment renovations and attic additions.

Beius, a small town in the forested hills of Transylvania, is home to one such adaptation. In 1999, residents of a former machinists' dormitory sought help from Adrian Ciorna, the current national director of Habitat for Humanity Romania who was then the executive director of Habitat Beius.

During the communist era, the dormitory belonged to the local Fraternity Machine Tools Factory, which employed more than 1,000 people and constructed the building to house its commuters who were single. By 1999, the company that then owned the dormitory had gone bankrupt, and the bank was selling the aging building piece by piece. That's when one of the building's residents came to Habitat.

"I said no at first," Ciorna says. "And I said no again." At the time, new construction was the affiliate's sole answer to Beius' housing needs. "But when someone came a third time, I realized that maybe the solution we had in mind was not the only one."

After determining that the building was structurally sound, Habitat purchased the top floor, renovating common areas and creating apartments with multiple rooms. The affiliate then took the unusual step of constructing an attic addition that created even more apartments.

In the end, the building--called NEFA, a nickname derived from "nefamilisti," which is Romanian for "singles"--became home to 26 Habitat partner families, all of whom worked in some capacity on the renovation and extension. The apartments range in size from 280 square feet to 517 square feet, at costs to the Habitat owners of $4,700 to $8,800.

According to Ciorna, the NEFA project required a Habitat investment of $178,600 to help 26 families, less than half of the $377,000 that 26 traditional houses would have involved. "Not only has Beius Habitat for Humanity made housing affordable for people with a lower income," says Ciorna, "but it served a number of families with less than half the budget for new construction."

Drinc Viorel lives in one apartment in the attic addition with his wife, Mihaela, and their two daughters Paula and Bianca. Viorel works as a postman; his wife is employed by a local clothing manufacturer. The Viorels lived in the NEFA building before Habitat became involved, just a few floors down in a drafty one-room apartment that Mihaela says was never warm. The family was talking about applying to Habitat before they found out about the project in their very own building.

This afternoon, 3-year-old Bianca has been napping in one room, her cheeks rosy from the heat of the terra cotta stove that efficiently heats the cozy apartment. Paula, four years older than her baby sister, plays quietly in the room next door. This could not have happened in their old apartment, says Mihaela.

"The most important thing is that we have much more space, that we are no longer living in a single room," Drinc says.

"I don't have one most important thing," Mihaela chimes in with a smile. "All the house is special to me."

Continuing the Work
In the Khujand area, Fakhriddin Kuziboev has his eye on a number of potential Habitat renovation projects. Khujand State University already has spoken with affiliate representatives about renovating a students' dormitory and helping to facilitate new house construction for qualifying teachers. Kuziboev rattles off nearby towns with faraway-sounding names--Panjikent, Kairrakkum, Chkalovsk--where his construction manager has already heard of the same kind of empty shells that the KSU building once was.

One four-story building in rural Kairrakkum was completed and inhabited during Soviet times, but slowly abandoned as decay set in; a small community of squatters has moved in, working widows and shy-eyed children living in its damp and crumbling quarters.

The properties seem to be everywhere; all Habitat Khujand needs to proceed, Kuziboev says, is the financial and spiritual support of people who believe in the idea of simple, decent and affordable housing. "Sometimes, it's hard to believe you can change this," Kuziboev reflects. "And I know it's not going to happen very soon. But time runs fast, and you run fast. And God willing, it happens."

He constantly sees the change that Habitat has brought to Khujand. The owners of other buildings in town have mimicked the building's cheerful pastel paint job, bringing bright colors to the city skyline. Habitat homeowners are planting gardens and celebrating weddings. In the shadow of the KSU building, children gather to play soccer.

"I'm a graduate of the university, you know," Kuziboev adds, almost as an afterthought. "When the faculty see me and this new building, they tell me they see the harvest of their work. I hope I see one of these young ones the same way one of these days."