Tibakombole Ngulube celebrating outside her home

Tibakombole Ngulube is the Homeowner that Brent Pope and Malcolm O’Kelly built alongside on their recent trip to Zambia.

Tibakombole is 56 years old. She looks after her three orphaned grandchildren Matthew (10), Vicky (7) and Lucy (6). Tibakombole has seven children of her own too, three of whom have died. Since her husband died in 1996, she has depended on financial support from one of her daughters who works as a maid.

For many years the family lived in a dangerous three roomed structure. The bricks were made of unburnt pan bricks which were roughly placed one above the other and plastered with mud. The roof was covered with old iron sheets which had to be held down by rocks to prevent them from being blown away by the wind.

With no proper roof over their heads, during the rainy season, everything in the house got drenched. The house had no floor either and the walls were full of cracks. There were no windows to provide ventilation and no toilet or bathroom facilities.

In May 2011, the Kondwa Centre, a community based organisation which works hand in hand with Habitat for Humanity Zambia identified Tibakombole and her family as being badly in need of better housing. One month later Brent Pope and Malcolm O’Kelly’s Habitat for Humanity Ireland team began work, alongside Tibkombole, on a new home. Tibakombole and her family now live in this home, which offers them safe and decent conditions.