You are used to telling your close ones how hard it can be for you, right? So hard that you didn’t manage to buy a new car. So hard that last year you couldn’t go on holiday to the seaside. So hard that you don’t have money to change your furniture, or your refrigerator, stove or your old washing machine. It was especially hard when you got sick and you stayed one week in the hospital. It is hard for you right now because you work to much and earn to little.

It is true, it has been hard.

But we are sure that you know that there are people that have it much, much worse…And have you thought that these people live all around you? That it can be somebody in your city, in your neighborhood, your neighbor, you colleague… People that nobody thinks to help and for who your problems are a luxury.

Do you know what it means to live in a 12 m²? Not alone, but with your whole family. Sometimes three or four even five people. Bunk beds. A sink in the corner. A radiator under the window. A folding table and an old coffee machine by the window. The painting is covered in mold and the door is not shutting as it should for a long time. The unsanitary bathroom is on the hallway, in commune with other families in the same situation, the humid smell is ubiquitous.

It’s not an isolated situation. We can find it in to many places, big and small, in Romania. Most of the times, this tormented people have only the blame of being to poor to rent or build or buy a propped place to live in. The credit institutions don’t even look at them and they don’t present interest even for the usurers.

But they are our partners. Not just beneficiaries but partners that are involved body and soul in trying to brake the vicious cycle of poverty living.

I want my boy to go to school and for him to have a place to do his homeworks. I want a bathroom. I want a place for a wardrobe where I can keep things away from dust and filth. I want a clean wall. At least a place where the washing machine can fit.

I want to live like a normal human being.

	Beneficiaries
	A family in Beius, Bihor is living in a room with no heating, no running water and without other utilities necessary for decent living. More images with beneficiaries

Habitat for Humanity becomes the source through which these wishes can become reality. Through hard work, ambition and mutual help(intr-ajutorare), through accepting friendly and unselfish help – the beneficiaries of the Habitat program will have transformed their lives for the better.

Habitat for Humanity has shown that building a home means much more than a simple roof above your head:

• The beneficiary family will be able to ensure the stability necessary for the children’s education.
• They will lead a dignified life and a life more and more viable from an economical point of view.
• Health and life safety gain a new quality.
• Eliminating the stress of poor living will improve the chances of working and professional formation.

Family stories

Inundații Dorohoi 2010	Familia Doru	Familii proiect Oarja	Familia Stăvaru	Familia Andronesi
Fekete Maria	Familia Vintilă	Familia Constantin	Familia Arun	Familia Lăcătuşu
Familia Kis	Familia Rus	Familii defavorizate	Familia Bodea	Familia Dumitrescu
Familia Florian

At the core of the selection process there are these 3 main criteria:

  • the need for a home;
  • the existence of an income, even a very small one;
  • the will to work (up to 1500 hours) on their own home and that of others.

The families in dire need of a home are chosen in a transparent and non discriminating way by the committee of family selection. These committees are composed of volunteers from the local community where a Habitat affiliated organization activates. The selection committee sends the Board a list of families that are in the biggest need for housing in the area.

The opportunity of getting a Habitat home is announced in local newspapers, churches, radio and posters and the entire selection process lasts about 3 months.

The families are invited to hand in an application for getting a home. A series of meeting fallow, where Habitat presents the families what it means to become a partner, what responsibilities and what rights every party has, how the building takes place, how the home will look, when the inauguration will take place, etc.

Then the members of the family selection committee visit the place where the families that put in an application live and they go through an entire process of evaluating the conditions in which they live and their need for a home.

Once selected, the families will sign a partnership contract that represents at the same time the pre-contract for the future home, but also the commitment of putting in up to 1,500 hours of volunteering.

When the home is finished – in about 10 months – a festive dedication takes place and the family is handed in the keys to their new home, and then there are made the final arrangements for the property papers.

During the building process the partner families work along with local volunteers and international volunteers through the “Global Village” Habitat program. Traditionally one of the most important components is that of educating the family regarding the administration of the new home and of the families’ resources.