BEFORE: The old house which was in danger of collapsing
AFTER: The new house is bright and airy, a safe place for Oanh’s family.
In December 2018, we shared the urgent need of Oanh and her family to rebuild their crumbling home. (Read Can You Help Oanh’s Family Build a Safer Home?)
After a month of work, a simple new 50 square meter (538 square feet) house was built for them. The house has a living room and two small bed rooms. The cost to rebuild the house was around USD $5,000. With the donations YWAM Mercy received, we were able to contribute USD $2,200 for the house, and USD $500 to build a toilet and bathroom (which is typically a separate structure.) The family organized loans and donations from friends and family to cover the rest of the funds needed.
Local Women’s Union members and neighbors helping Oanh’s family to dismantle the old house.
We are thrilled to see that local authorities and neighbors have become more sympathetic to this family’s situation. They provided their labour to help dismantle the old house which saved money over renting machines and hiring outside labourers.
YWAM Mercy began to support this family in early 2017, but we had never met Oanh’s father.
Local leaders and neighbors, shared that because Oanh’s father suffers from severe mental illness and wanders the neighborhood muttering incoherently and has been known to steal, he is greatly disliked. Since the construction of the new house was started, we often met Oanh’s father at the home helping Oanh’s mother assisting the construction team, as a result, the relationship between Oanh’s mother and father, and between her mother and mother-in-law has improved greatly.
Oanh (center) and her parents with donors from Australia
Oanh’s mother with her older sister (pink shirt) and mother-in-law (purple shirt).
As YWAM Mercy, we sincerely thank our donors from all over the world who have helped us to bring these important changes to Oanh’s family.