HAPPINESS DAWNS BRIGHT IN ROMANIA
By Milana McLead

Their story (as told in the December 1997/January 1998 issue of Habitat World) projected that Lenuta Moga and her family would be in their Habitat house by Christmas 1997. It was not to be. Still, the day did come-albeit recently-when they moved to a home of their own and began to dream of a new future.

Little Daniel Moga's bare feet make sharp, smacking noises on the tiles as he races to the door, hurling himself into his grandmother's arms. Rozalia Moga is leaving now to go to market and then on to her own house a few miles away. Her visit brought squeals of joy; her departure, the earnest hugs of a child.

Times have changed for 6-year-old Daniel and his family. Until July, the three generations of the extended Moga family lived together in a drafty, decrepit 100-year-old house where his grandfather had to sleep in the kitchen and Daniel had to share a small bedroom with his sister, brother and parents. It had been the only home Daniel had ever known; his grandmother, a full-time fixture of his young life.

Today, his family lives in one of the first of 17 houses built on Habitat Street on the outskirts of Beius, Romania-a rural town in the pastoral Transylvania region of the country. Now, there is more room for his family, but he misses his grandmother. She misses him, too, but is happy for the family. "I feel very good that they have a house," she says. "We were lots of people in our house, there was too much noise, and I have a [handicapped] daughter. I can't wait to have my grandchildren visit because I miss them, but [their parents'] happiness is very big, because their dream of having a house came true."

The dream was one of three that Daniel's 33-year-old mother, Lenuta, had had since her own orphaned childhood: She wished to be a bride with a white dress, to have a husband who does not drink (Romania is plagued by alcoholism), and to have a house of her own. "All three of my dreams came true," she says. "This was the third one. Many times I can't believe it-I think, 'Is it true or is it a dream?' "

Waiting on that dream has taken a lifetime-and then some.

First, it was waiting to come of age and leaving the orphanage: "I left the orphanage at 19 with a bag of clothes. That's all I had," she remembers. "We were taught that life is hard and there is no one to make it easier. It is just up to us."

Next, it was waiting after she married and began to raise a family of her own under the roof of her husband's family. They spent 13 years there, with little hope of fulfilling her dream of a home all their own. Then, there was hope for a house through HFH Beius. In 1997, they learned they would be among the first three homeowners with whom the fledgling affiliate would build. The promise of a house gave them a future. That summer, she said: "I'm so happy, as a blind man who desired to see the light of day. In the same way now, I expect to move into my new house." But its scheduled completion by Christmas of that year was not to be.

Delays with installation of necessary infrastructure (streets and sewers) and harsh winter weather conspired against completion. For 2 1/2 years. It was only by last July that the Mogas could move into their house (as did six other families who, by then, also had completed their houses), just as 10 more houses were to be blitz built during two weeks in August.

"We never lost hope," Lenuta says of the long wait. "I knew that started work can't be stopped. [Habitat] was supportive and we believed in it."

Despite the delays, the Moga family is at home at last. In just a few short months, this simple 972-square-foot house-with its two small bedrooms, two toilets, kitchen, pantry and living area-has changed their lives. A small patch of land will soon yield lovingly planted carrots, eggplant and other vegetables. Farm animals will graze nearby to stave off the lean times. This Christmas will find them not only in their home, but also warmer, with a wood-burning furnace to ward off the chill of Romania's winter. The children are free to play without fear of disturbing an elderly grandfather or a disabled aunt.

And now it is possible to think of the future. "I don't want to give my children a fancy life," says Lenuta. "I just want to give them the more needed stuff so that they feel good. When they are older, they can have a fancy life. I wish them to be healthy and myself healthy enough to raise them. I would like for them to have an education.

"I don't have the right words to explain [how I feel about this house]," she says, blue eyes smiling. "We wished to have a house for a long time. I believe that never in my life, never would we have gotten a house without Habitat."

"Tell the boss in America that he did a very God-pleasing thing," said Lenuta Moga back in 1997. "There are many who can do the good, but they don't. This kind of help, without profit or interest from Habitat's side, this is amazing."

"I don't want to give my children a fancy life. I just want to give them the more needed stuff so that they feel good."

—Lenuta Moga

Milana McLead is editor of Habitat World.


Reprinted from Habitat World Magazine, December/January 2000.
This article may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
©1999 Habitat for Humanity International
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