Habitat For Humanity Aids Family With Affordable Housing
Mwaka Lengalenga
The housing deficit in Zambia has been a source of concern for many years, with low-income households being adversely affected.
However, for Vuciwe Banda, a widow who has lived in poor housing facility for many years after losing her husband, this is now a thing of the past after benefiting from Habitat for Humanity’s housing project for the vulnerable.
[Mrs Banda outside her home. Photo/Courtesy]
In 2002, after losing her husband, Vuciwe Banda was faced with the task of raising eight children on her own, and this meant providing a decent shelter for them, a situation that proved difficult as she could barely afford to keep up with rentals.
This situation led to her making a difficult decision of separating from her children in order for them to live in a decent household. Her children lived with their grandmother.
To ensure that Mrs Banda had a decent shelter to call her home Habitat for Humanity constructed a four-bedroom house for her, she is now able to live with her children and has been able to do her business and gain more profit, which, previously, she would spend on paying for rent.
For the organization whose core focus is to provide decent shelter for vulnerable families in Lusaka Zambia’s Chilanga community, it is simply not just about building a house for these families, but ensuring they also live in a sanitary environment.
Habitat for Humanity has provided housing relief for so many households in Zambia and this is derived from its vision for everyone to have a decent place to live.
The organisation has worked in Zambia since 1984, partnering with low-income families to provide affordable housing solutions in informal settlements.
According to Habitat for Humanity national director Mathabo Makuta, in order for families to be considered beneficiaries of the vulnerable group housing programme, they must meet the set criteria that comprise five requirements.
The work the organisation has carried out in Mapepe community has been through its orphaned and vulnerable group project that provides adequate affordable housing to the less privileged.
“The house comes with a ventilated pit latrine depending on the size of the family, corrugated iron sheet roofing and cement floor. The beneficiaries are also equipped with skills training in basic house maintenance, will writing, child protection, HIV/AIDS and malaria prevention,” she said.
Before the end of Habitat Zambia’s financial year in June 2022, the organisation has set out to construct 36 houses to support vulnerable households.
“In Kabwe’s Makululu community, five out of 23 houses are under construction, while in Linda and Mapepe in Lusaka and Chilanga, all the targeted 10 houses are under construction,” she said.
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