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Fiji: A Habitat house brings sunshine and peace

Prior to completing their Habitat home in July 2005, the nine-member Ravatu family was living in a 430-square-foot house with 11 other relatives. Saimone Ravatu was then the sole breadwinner, struggling to support an extended family on his US$4,000 annual salary. Looking back on those days, Saimone says it was a particularly challenging time for both their family and their faith as it was often difficult to make ends meet. Although the Ravatus were looking to improve their housing situation, they were unable to obtain financing from banks or other lending institutions because of their limited income.

Thankfully, the family had help from a Global Village team of 12 volunteers from Saint Kentergen School of New Zealand to build their two-bedroom, 540-square-foot Habitat home on Lami, Viti Levu, Suva. The family says they were blessed because, during the GV build, they had seven days of sunshine — quite rare for that time of year. The house was completed in five weeks, of which the New Zealand volunteers contributed seven days.

Before they left, the New Zealand GV team named the house Rangimarie, or “House of Peace.” Saimone expressed his gratitude: “I know that we have gone through a lot of challenges in our family life, but with the Habitat home build, we knew that God had answered our prayers. And we will continue to give thanks because with God and Habitat’s help, our family is now living a better life.”

Three years after the family moved into their Habitat house, Saimone’s wife Nate is heartened by the positive changes in their family – physically, spiritually and mentally. Living in spacious, more comfortable living quarters has enabled the children to finish at the top of their classes instead of struggling to achieve just average results, she says.

Saimone adds, “I thank Habitat for Humanity for having faith in me and for selecting my family application to be one of its home partners. We will also always be grateful to the Saint Kentergen School for being such a blessing to my family.”

By Hiew Peng, an editor/writer in Habitat’s Asia/Pacific area office