925 N 4th St, Champaign

In 2000, Waddah Sweid and his then 21-year-old wife Rim Hamwi and their four-month old daughter, Lara, packed up their belongings and moved to the United States from Saudi Arabia. Originally from Syria, the couple sought a better life for Lara.

“While the weather is great and the people are nice, there are no parks or libraries in Syria and the schools are not as good as they are in the United States. In Syria, children are largely overlooked," said Waddah Sweid. Rim quickly added, "And in Syria, homeownership for us would be impossible.”

Five years later, the Sweid family is moving closer to realizing a dream: homeownership. In early March, the couple – with Lara now five and a very active two-year-old Farris – was selected by Habitat for Humanity of Champaign County to become Habitat’s newest Partner Family.

“I was so nervous when you called,” Rim said when staff arrived with the news. “I had just tried calling the office and no one answered – I figured it was bad news. Then, 20 minutes later the phone rang, and it was you. I was just so happy!”

The family lives a quiet life in Winfield Village in Savoy – a small yard and a tidy apartment. “In Syria, we are considered ‘very low income’,” Rim said. “There, the expenses are nearly the same as they are here, but incomes are much, much lower. There really are not opportunities for things like mortgages, car ownership, affordable medication. Here in the U.S., these things are all possible.”

Rim has been taking math and English classes and the Urbana Adult Education Center and Parkland. It shows – her English is nearly perfect; a far cry from speaking only a few basic English words when they moved here five years ago.

When they moved here, they lived in a one-bedroom apartment with Lara – a divided up house with no heat in the bedroom and large holes in the ceiling. The entire house full of apartments shared a couple of tiny water heaters, making showering a daily challenge. There were too ashamed of their living conditions to consider having visitors over. After working a couple of part-time jobs, Waddah moved his family into Winfield Village and secured the job at Wal-mart.

Waddah and Rim are both avid gardeners and dream of a lush vegetable garden at the new home. Tomatoes, eggplant, zucchini, okra, and green peppers are among their favorites. Waddah looks forward to being able to work on his new home – fix things up and paint rooms to their specifications. Both say they want to add a small plastic swimming pool for their kids, who love to swim.

“We’ve always dreamed about this – owning our own home. Now, we no longer have to fear loosing a job and being evicted.” Rim said. “Now we can feel comfortable, we will have security.”

With the help of the UIUC Student Habitat Chapter and hundreds of residents across Champaign County, the Sweid family will finally realize their dream of homeownership in the United States this year.

Groundbreaking on September 9, 2006!

Building

A beautiful rain garden thanks to the Prairie Rivers Network!

The Orange Krush pitches in on September 21st!

Dedication

The Sweids on WCIA 3 on the building of their home: video (taped April 27, 2007)

News-Gazette article by Julie Wurth: Habitat opens door to dream for Syrian family

Dedication on Saturday, April 28, 2007

Special thanks to Senator Frerichs and Representative Jakobsson for joining us.

Thank you to...

Our Material and Service Donors
ABC Sanitary, Armstrong Cash & Carry Lumber, Cabinetland Ltd., Cement Masons & Plasters Local #143, Champaign Heating and Air, Champaign Telephone Company, City of Champaign, Custom Flooring & Acoustics, Ezell Excavating, F & R Roofing,

Fry Access, LLC, HDC Engineering, IBEW Local #601, IDSCO, Illini FS, Illiana Insulation, Kurt B. Crail Inc., LSSI Prison Partnership, Maxwell Counters, MX Electric Inc., Nash Crane Service Inc., Patton Lumber, Prairie Central, RC’s Plumbing & HVAC, RP Lumber, Sam’s Drywall, Springfield Electric, Stevens Excavating and Storage Options Solutions

Our Cash Donors
Orange Krush Foundation and the Habitat for Humanity ReStore.

Our Food Donors
Chipotle, Papa John’s, Silvermine Subs and University Dining Services.

Our University Supporters
Vice Chancellor Romano, Board of Trustees, Jack Collins, Christopher Kantas, Diane Jeffers and Jason Schmitz.

Our Student Chapter Volunteers