MEET NAGI AND RADDIYA

Nagi and Raddiya immigrated to Iowa City from Sudan, a country in Africa where they were both born and raised. There, they described the home they shared as small and constructed with natural elements like mud, woven grass, palm tree leaves, and branches. Nagi and Raddiya came to the US through the Diversity Visa Program with their two eldest children in the summer of 2016. They were welcomed by friends who allowed them to live in their home for several months until they could find their own place to call home. They have now been in their three bedroom, one-and-a-half-bathroom apartment for six years where their family of five struggles for space and their rent increases with every lease renewal. When one sibling was asked what they were looking forward to in a new house, they expressed their excitement for their own bedroom and said, “there’s a big place to play and there's a park. You can go with the car, but it's so close and I can walk there. It is a nice park”.

Nagi is taking classes through Kirkwood while working for a local non-profit supporting youth and Raddiya works as a sales associate for a nation-wide business. The couple work opposite schedules to care for their children and avoid the exorbitant cost of childcare. It is a difficult schedule because it limits the time each parent has with the rest of the family. When asked about this arrangement, Nagi explained, “yeah, but you know you have to accept this because you know you have the kids, and you can’t work at the same time. We can meet, like, two hours or three hours a day, but you have weekends”.

Nagi and Raddiya have been involved with Habitat for Humanity before being accepted into the Homeownership Program. Nagi gifted sweat equity hours to his friend who built a home with Iowa Valley Habitat for Humanity and that friend has already pledged to support Nagi's family by paying it forward and contributing sweat equity hours by
volunteering to build Nagi and Raddiya's home. Nagi and Raddiya are currently building homes for other Habitat families as well. Sweat equity is a huge commitment for families working multiple jobs and caring for young children, but the result is an ongoing cycle of families helping other families for years to come!

-Photo by Mark McIntyre

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