Building strong homes and lasting friendships

A place to study, a place to laugh.

That is the kind of place, the kind of home, that Teberh and Alem are building this week for their children in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Helping them are people they had never met before: volunteers who have come from all over Canada and the United States to participate in the 2017 Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Work Project.

“They spend all day, in the sun, in the rain, in the wind, in whatever,” Teberh says. “They are teaching us a good lesson, to do more for other people. All of the volunteers are very friendly. And now they are our friends.”

Teberh and Alem and their four children currently are living in a two-bedroom, high-rise apartment. The parents are constantly hushing the kids so they won’t disturb the neighbors. “The children need their own space to be able to focus on school,” says Alem, an HVAC technician. “They also need a space where they can play and laugh. This is our big chance.”

Across Canada, from Winnipeg to Fort Saskatchewan, the provinces to the territories, 150 families are getting the chance to become homeowners through the Carter Work Project.