Grace Mwale and her family.

Grace Mwale (47) lives in the Chazanga compound in Lusaka, Zambia’s capital city.

In 2003, while she was pregnant with her sixth child, her husband died of a chest condition. That same year, the family’s house collapsed due to heavy rains. Grace had no means to rebuild it, and no husband to help her. Grace and her children had no choice but to move in with her sister and her two nieces in Chazanga.

In their new home, the family of nine was forced to live in a two room house for four long years. Grace’s sons Lamech (14) and Thomas (12) had to drop out of school and work in nearby cornfields to make money to support the large family.

Life was far from easy but during that time Grace’s family began to rebuild their old house. It was held together by mud alone when they decided to move back in, eager to have a place to call their own. The house leaked severely during the rainy season, had no windows or air vents, no floor, no proper doors and therefore, no proper security.

Thankfully Grace and her family no longer have to live in such unsafe conditions. With the help of Habitat for Humanity, the Mwale family now live in safe and decent housing. Brent Pope and Malcom O’Kelly visited Grace’s new home on their trip to Zambia in June 2011 and saw the difference it had made to her and her children’s lives.