Single Mum Builds Her Dream House After She Was Evicted By Landlord
- On the eve of Christmas, Susan Warui and her two sons aged 10 and seven were thrown out of their rented house over rent arrears
- It was Susan's lowest point, one that made the single mum feel like she had let down her children
- The low moment turned out to be a blessing in disguise as she started building and recently moved into the incomplete house, but with the peace of not paying rent
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After procrastinating for several years, Susan Warui embarked on an ambitious project to build her dream house in Matasia, Ngong.
Source: UGC
It was a decision she arrived at after hitting her lowest point in time on December 24 when her landlord evicted them over rent arrears.
Felt she had let her sons down
The single mother said that when that happened, she felt she had let down her two sons aged 10 and seven.
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What was meant to break her became the motivation as she wanted to have a home that nobody would ever evict them.
When I rose again, my dream was just to have the house done. I figured out I can buy something to improve the structure every end month with the money I had been spending on rent," she said.
It was a bold decision but the turning point she needed because these days, she finds herself doing improvements every month, however small.
Sons were the biggest cheerleaders
According to Susan, the journey has not been easy but her biggest motivation came from the push by her boys.
"On better days, we would cook nyama or matumbo and eat at the site then they would sleep over, so they literally owned the process," the young mother said proudly.
Her other cheering squad was friends who know most of her past ups and downs, her nuclear family, and the builders themselves.
Susan reveals the builders would give timelines and cheer her up, sometimes proposing to work on loan as long as she raised some money for materials.
Source: UGC
Not an easy road
She was also lucky to land suppliers who were good to her despite not meeting any of them physically as transactions were through the phone.
"They came to trust me. Today, if I ask for a load of sand to pay end month, I am given without many questions. When I get money, I pay," she added.
Having been there and done that, Susan says the hardest part was starting, getting guidance, and the right people to work with.
She lamented the challenges of a single woman building such a house alone as men, who are the majority players in the industry, look down upon women.
"They think you don't know what you want. You also get a lot of chauvinists and naysayers who think a woman cannot build, so I vowed to only work with those who believed in me," she said.
Errors and omissions
Susan moved into the incomplete house in April this year despite not having some of the would-be basics like curtains.
But she wanted the peace of living in her own house, which also gave her the opportunity to point out the mistakes she had made during the process.
"The first mistake was altering the plan too much, because I ended up with more rooms than I needed, and a kitchen smaller than it originally was," she expressed.
The dotting mother is hopeful that she will manage to talk her neighbour, who is yet to build, into selling her the adjacent plot so that she increases her free space.
Video of portable house goes viral
In a related story, Legit.ng reported that a man showed a mobile house which could be lifted and taken to anywhere.
In a viral video that fascinated a lot of people, the man said all one needs is a parcel of land and the house could be planted on it.
When the photo of the house was shared on Facebook, it got some people excited.
Source: TUKO.co.ke
Nkem Ikeke (Copy editor) Nkem Ikeke is currently a copy editor who also writes for the politics and current affairs desk on weekends. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Mass Communication degree from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (2010), and has over 10 years of work experience in the media industry (Reporter, News Agency of Nigeria). Email: n.ikeke@corp.legit.ng
Israel Usulor (Human-Interest editor) Israel Usulor is a journalist who has 9 years of experience. He worked at The Prime Newspaper and has published articles in TheCable Newspaper. Israel graduated with distinction from Fidei Polytechnic (Mass Commun, 2016). Israel has interviewed Zannah Mustapha, the man who helped negotiate the release of Chibok Girls, and Kunle Adeyanju, who rode a bike from London to Lagos. He covered exclusive stories on Chef Dami during her Guinness World Records cookathon. Email: israel.usulor@corp.legit.ng.
