Habitat for Humanity, Delta Air Lines, dedicate Federal Way home to family
Published 3:35 pm Monday, November 23, 2015
Due to the complicated immigration process, Tirngo Webe came to America in 2002 alone, without her twin daughters she had just birthed, her husband and her other children.
“I moved to Seattle to live a better life and I have a better life now,” the Ethiopian native said. “It took me a little while to get citizen[ship] and to understand the culture, a little bit difficult for me.”
Her family wouldn’t join her until 2011.
“We had just a small house and lived the Ethiopian lifestyle,” she said. “We don’t have that much hard time or that much rich, it was good to live with our family and it was a good education too, but we just looked forward to [moving] to America.”
In the meantime, her husband, Yibeltal Redie, and mother took care of her twin daughters and her older two went to live in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, for school.
Webe worked as a laundry aid in south Seattle and received help from a close friend.
When her family finally joined her, they packed into a two-bedroom apartment with mold and water damage. The apartment’s location had also been deemed a high crime area.
Learning of Habitat for Humanity through a friend who had received a home in White Center, she applied for one in Rainier Vista but was unsuccessful. She re-applied for a home in Renton but then found out she was pregnant and would need a larger house.
“They said, ‘We’re looking for one but right now we don’t have one, just hold on until we find one,'” she said.
Webe recalls she was so desperate for a house to fit her family that she was willing to move far away from her church and job. When the Federal Way house, in the 32800 block of 26th Place SW, was available, she accepted it right away.
“I visited the house in the driveway, didn’t go inside and I told them that I like it,” she said. “Even if I don’t like it, I want to move in. It’s far from Seattle but I’d rather have that instead of living in three bedrooms.”
Habitat for Humanity and Delta Air Lines volunteers began work on the house on Oct. 19 and it was dedicated to the family Nov. 19.
The foreclosed two-story house had “truckloads” of garbage and personal possessions left inside from the previous owner.
“We demolished the kitchen, bathrooms, driveway, floors and a few walls in the process,” said Greta Tjeltveit, an AmeriCorps construction volunteer lead for Habitat for Humanity. “We insulated the home, which had previously not been insulated. I can only imagine what winters were like here before.”
The house was re-shingled, the electrical was updated and many other improvements were made.
“We completed the entire exterior and first floor of the home in the short timeframe we were given but will continue to work on the basement to be finished when the family buys the house in March,” Tjeltveit said. “Currently, we just have it with drywall and we’re waiting to clear everything out … and continue the process of what we did upstairs.”
Mayor Jim Ferrell welcomed the family to Federal Way during the dedication, recalling his own memories of moving into a new home as a child.
“Sixty-three homes have been built in this city as the result of the partnership with Habitat for Humanity,” he said. “Now, you know, for some, that’s just a number, 63, but when you really think about it, think about the impact, the geometric impact that has on a community.
“I’ll tell you the most important number, and that’s one. Because we have one family that’s moving into this one house and this will be one of the most significant events in their life, a real turning point for their family.”
Mike Medeiros, the vice president of Seattle Delta Air Lines, said they plan to come back to Federal Way next year to help more families find homes with Habitat for Humanity.
The Federal Way project is part of Delta’s nationwide initiative this fall where more than 2,400 Delta employees are working on seven homes in six cities, including Atlanta, Detroit, Los Angeles, Minneapolis/St. Paul, New York and Seattle.
After Webe and her husband move in with their four teenage daughters and infant, Webe’s goals for her family will be to focus on education for her daughters.
“My kids, their school. That’s my goal, I want them to go to better school, better life, not like me,” she said. “I want them to [have a] better life.”
Webe said her daughters will likely change their minds about what they want to be when they grow up, but she’s heard them express wanting to be nurses, doctors and engineers.
“I’m not sure [what] they’re going to do next,” she said, noting she’s thankful for work that’s been done on her new home. “I support them in whatever they want to do.”
