MEET HIBA

When the war started, my husband and I already had our three daughters (14, 12, and 4 years old) and our son (2 years old). We were working and living in our own apartment. Our life was simple but happy, and we lacked for nothing. Shortly after the war began, the street where we live became a battlefield. Despite it all, we stayed in our house for as long as possible. At some point, we were besieged in the house for two entire months. We could never go out, and the only room we stayed in was the one in the middle of the apartment, that had no windows. It was the only safe place in the house. After a while all our windows had been shattered, and bullets started coming into our house from all directions. We had no more food, there was no longer any electricity and we had very little water left. We wanted to escape by any means possible, but fighting kept going on and on.

So we relied on God, prayed, and left when we felt it was the good time. The moment we were on the street, it became quiet, as if an angel had come blinding the eyes of all the armed forces until we reached a safer place. Thank God, we all made it uninjured, but a long journey of displacement began.

We stayed in a first location for two days, before going to relatives in a different neighborhood for 10 days. After that, we went to yet again a different neighborhood, at some other relatives, for a month. After that we moved three more times, splitting up at times. Being displaced so many times was difficult. Although we were staying with relatives or friends, we always felt like a burden, and people were struggling too. We knew many days without eating or cold without heating.

Thankfully, we later got to know a wonderful doctor, who let us stay in a house he owned for seven entire years without ever asking us for any rent. May God bless him abundantly! He is an angel, and He was the reason for my children’s success in school. After seven years, he needed to sell the house, and we had to leave.

We found a destroyed house nearby, and proceeded to repair it as much as we could to be able to sleep in it. The owner of the place obviously had left, and we didn’t know who he was. We stayed there for a little while. During that time, my husband died, and I was left to care alone for my children. I was devastated and broken. On top of that, the owner of the house we were staying in came back, introduced himself, and told us he wanted his house back. I looked at my children and I felt a stabbing pain in my chest. I could no longer move my left hand.

After a long discussion, we managed to convince him to let us stay, but we now needed to pay him rent. I was in no capacity to do that, although I work in a public school, in addition to doing as much cleaning work as I can find. My siblings had to help. My sisters gathered anything they were able to, and my brother worked the land for an entire year just to pay for my rent.

This is the unlivable situation we were in, when you came and repaired our home. I learned about the rehabilitation project through a teacher in the school where I work. I contacted the team and met with the coordinator and explained them my situation. They showed wonderful empathy and promised me to visit me, which they did very quickly. Then they registered me in the project, and they indeed rehabilitated the entire house!

On my hand, I followed up very closely on the work, and I was always there to clean everything after the workers. I was even able to make some small changes, so that the house is even better than before! For example, I asked to move the entrance door of the apartment to the left a little so that it opens on the stairs of the building. We also added a wall to separate a large room into two smaller bedrooms.

It made such a huge difference. Before, I couldn’t afford my rent and my siblings had to take from their children’s mouth to help me and my family. It was weighing a lot on me. I was very afraid, especially for my daughters, because most people are not merciful. I was afraid of everyone, even our neighbors. Now, we don’t have rent to pay anymore, and we feel safe and stable, especially since we are back in the neighborhood we used to live in before the war. I can sleep comfortably and go to work comfortably, thank God.

The team did such a quick and fantastic job! They had finished just when our landlord wanted to evict us. They saved us from sleeping on the street. Since we were forced to abandon our home around 10 years ago, not one day passed without me dreaming and praying that we could one day go back. The team made my biggest dream come true. They have become like more than brothers to me.

Thank God, we finally can get some rest. I can now think of the future and do all I can to keep on being a supportive and caring mother to my children, and to encourage them to pursue their studies.