Rabecca Ngugi, a Kenyan living in the US, became a homeowner after she received a 3-storey building house in a mortgage deal in Lebanon city, Pennsylvania, after volunteering at a charitable organisation.
During the event, Ngugi was given keys to her new home after offering over 250 hours to rebuild the house which was razed down by fire in 2016.
Reports indicated that Ngugi helped in rebuilding the walls of the three-storey house after Lancaster Lebanon Habitat for Humanity called on volunteers to help rebuild the homes after the fire incident.
As part of the deal, Ngugi was awarded the house on a zero per cent mortgage interest and will move in with her 8-year-old son.
Additionally, she was taken through homeownership classes to equip her with skills in managing and maintaining her new home.
Ngugi stated that owning a home was a dream come true after moving to the US five years ago.
She stated that she decided to take part in restoring the homes in order to play her part in building and restoring the community which suffered adverse effects following the 2016 fire incident.
"This is a dream that has come true. It's been five years now and about a month since I came to America, and I think it's a dream for every American to own a home.
“I think it was all quite interesting rebuilding the house. I had never done that before. Every step in the process was interesting," she stated.
Ngugi was received by the community who surprised her with household items during the handover.
On his part, the Mayor, Sherry Capello stated that they had decided to retain the look of the former home to maintain the history of the town, further thanking Ngugi for partnering with them.
“The city was really trying to find a partner that we could work with to try and save the facades. We thought that demolishing the original facades would change the entire look of this block. We didn’t want something ‘new’ to be the face of this block," she stated.
