Habitat World Online

Portugal: A Habitat family’s before and after
Maria de La Salete da Silva Brito never wanted to leave the house where she and 10 brothers and sisters grew up in tiny Barcelos, Portugal.

Even after her mother died there when Maria was 2.

Even after her husband committed suicide there.

Even after her father’s long struggle with Alzheimer’s there. Maria had cared for him for years, and the house had deteriorated while he had, the family simply too poor to maintain it.

For four more years, the single mother and widow was unable to earn enough from her textile job to end the heirloom’s downward spiral, but, even after this, Maria and her daughter continued to live there.

They continued to live there even after the drafty windows let in more cold than they kept out.

Even after the ceiling began to crumble, and even after water began to pool on the floor.

Even after her and her daughter’s steps began to give way as they gingerly walked about.

Maria never considered selling the family home — for what little she might have gotten for it — but neither could she ensure her teen daughter had a safe, warm room in which to study.

One day “illuminated by God,” as she puts it, Maria went to the municipal authorities for help. They told her about Habitat for Humanity.

Soon, volunteer teams from all over the world were descending upon Maria’s dilapidated house.

When the first team arrived to demolish the house, Maria worried Habitat and its volunteers might not come back. And she continued worrying.

Even after a team from a Swiss private school carried out the demolition. Even after a U.S. team cleared the debris away. Even after another team from the U.S. rebuilt the floor. And even after a corporate team built the walls, and even after other teams re-installed the electricity, built a sturdy roof and painted everything, inside and out.

This summer, even after all her worrying, Maria accepted the keys to her rebuilt house at an emotional dedication. She also began repaying a 27,000-euro (US$36,800) no-profit loan.

For Maria and her daughter, “even after” all they’ve suffered and endured, they now thrive in a dry, safe shelter where they can cook, study and live decently, safely — and happily.

Ever after.

By Eddie Byrd, director of communications and advocacy for Habitat’s Europe/Central Asia area office