Handover! Tuesday May 26, 2009

Finally - the moment all the families have been waiting for many, many years had come.

Tabitha's principles are all about self-sustainability and saving to reach middle class. By saving each week as little as 10 cents a week or as much as they could afford and collecting 10% interest after each 10 week cycle, each of the families had slowly but surely worked towards their house. The hard work of saving for the last 3 - 7 years was about to be rewarded.

While we were waiting for the rain to subside, the Tabitha staff gathered all 9 families - or about 30 people - plus many more "spectators" under the raised floor of the last house. One by one, each family came forward and as a sign of the handover, received a new Tabitha quilt from each of us. The emotion we all felt left us looking for the right words to say as we handed the houses over one by one. There was the young couple with two small kids. Two middle aged women (sisters?) with two kids each who could barely hold back their tears of joy. The father of nine who appearantly was without wife. All immensely proud and thankful towards what they were able to achieve with the help of Tabitha.

As the rain cleared, we posed for a final "family" picture in front of the last completed house and amongst many "Awkun's" and lots of smiles, we boarded our bus, leaving behind 30 incredibly happy people that are one step closer to stepping out of poverty.

Watch the Video of the Handover here: