Ernest's New Home




from a cow dung hut & sheets of metal....
 

So, for those of you who are new, we have a neighbor, named Ernest. He has a wife and a son, Ellie and a new baby girl named Upendo. Ernest has helped me and Karim since day one. He does everything and anything and is one of the hardest workers ever! He is the first one to ask if I need help and never asks for a dime, or should I say shiling. But i do pay him and sometimes he has even tried to give some back and said 'No Mama, that is too much". Ernest lived in a cow dung hut with his family until just recently it was removed and a new brick home was put up! He was saving all his money and slowly buying bricks to build this. I saw the bricks & few bags of cement on one of my last visits and asked what they were for. When he told me, I cried! It made me happy and sad at the same time knowing he was saving his money for a home for his family but at the same time he could not feed them. This got me thinking and started fundraising for Ernest. One brick cost $1.00...."how many bricks can you buy for Ernest, so he can build a home?" Lots of friends and family started buying bricks and bags of cement. Then my husband and I had a pair of tickets to Elton John! They were sold to the highes bidder of $1800.00 to my good friend, Cindy Swarthout! That was the 'icing on the cake' or you might say 'the roof on his house'!! A  everyone, who was a part of giving this awesome young hard working neighbor and friend, a new home for him and his family. He is truly grateful and grins from ear to ear!

to a brick home with a metal roof!