A New Beginning

                I remember walking into what looked like a mansion, my eyes grew big and I turned to my parents and said “This is ours?”  On this day in 2002, my family was moving into our new habitat house.  It had been 6 years since we had left Africa to start a new life in America.  When we first came to the US we were refugees that had nothing more than the suitcases and boxes we’d packed.   My parents used to always tell us how they never thought that they’d be able to own a home again when we moved here, but Habitat changed all of that for us. 

              On October 26^th I experienced a Deja-Vu moment as I was able to experience the Rahlan-Ksor house dedication in Mathews, NC.  The Rahlan-Ksor family, a family with six children that fled Vietnam and was offered asylum in the US, was able to become a part of the Habitat family on this day.  On this day, Promising Pages was also able to become a part of the Habitat family.   This event officially instituted our new partnership with Habitat for Humanity Mathews.  For every house that this sector of Habitat builds, we will supply the home with a bookshelf full of handpicked books.

                We arrived an hour prior to the dedication and set up the bookshelf in the Rahlan-Ksor home.  We also surrounded the bookshelf full of 135 books with 18 personally wrapped books that we carefully chose for the 6 children.  We covered the bookshelf with a cloth and prepared for the reveal.  When the event began and it was time for the Promising Pages presentation we revealed the books and gladly looked on as the children excitedly opened their presents.  It was amazing seeing the girls giggle at their new books about Barbies, Princesses, Junie Bloom and other characters that we were all raised on.  But personally I loved seeing how happy the family’s 2 year old son was when he opened his gifts, the only time I saw the little guy sit down for more than a minute.

                The event was truly a humbling experience for me.  It reminded me of how far my family has come and how hard my parents worked to ensure that my brothers and I made it to college.  I wish the same for those 6 sweet children I met and cannot wait for the follow-ups when I get to go and replenish their bookshelf.   This moment will give this family hope, and with hope I know they will be able to accomplish anything.

Have a great and blessed week everyone!

Sandrine Uwera