NGO promotes home-ownership project

Etalemahu Tadese, an accountant, was used to living in squalor. She had no kitchen or latrine, and the roof of the mud hut leaked. She lived in the rented one-room hut with her 72-year-old mother, son, and two teenaged relatives. "We lived like that for almost a year," Etalemahu told IRIN. In many other parts of the world, she could easily have afforded a proper home. But Etalemahu lives in Ethiopia - one of the poorest countries in the world and where nine out of 10 people live in substandard housing. Etalemahu, who now works for the Agricultural Research Institute in Ambo, western Ethiopia, has been able to escape the misery of her former existence. With the help of the charity Habitat for Humanity Ethiopia (HFHE) she has built herself a house – one she now owns. "It took us three months to build the new house," she said, proudly standing outside it. She said more attention should be given to housing and the difficulties faced by families in buying homes. "We had no access to loans and had no hope of having a secure place to live in. Now I feel safe, and hope that many people who are living in a desperate situation will get this chance," added 48-year-old Etalemahu, a single mother, who earns around 990 Ethiopian birr (US$116) a month. HFHE, which is supported by former US President Jimmy Carter, has built more than 120,000 houses for families around the world, and operates in 22 African countries. In Ethiopia, it has four housing developments under way in six towns. Already it has completed 172 houses for 860 people. Although HFHE is an international NGO, it is primarily backed by Ethiopian volunteers. Ethiopian Airlines has extended support, as has one of the main cement manufacturers in the country. The housing system operates by way of setting up a small fund from donors, which then works like a building society. Families are selected through a community committee - one-third of whose members are women - and the families then set about building the house. The fund is used to purchase materials, and the homeowner then repays the cost of the materials used over a period of about 10 years. The maximum repayment must be less than 25 percent of the owner's monthly income. "What makes us unique is that their money goes back into the community to build more houses, creating a sustainable fund," Brenda Ruth, the deputy director of HFHE, told IRIN. "The houses are sold without profit, financed by affordable no-interest loans and use payments to build more houses." Originally, most beneficiaries were those who earn an average income, but could not afford a house - teachers or civil servants. But the programme is now being designed to help impoverished families. HFHE has designed a one-room, nine-metre square house with an iron roof and a pit latrine for around $600 per unit. Families can then build additional rooms. HFHE also uses environmentally friendly locally sourced materials, thereby preventing further deforestation.