Fifty-nine year old Elvie Pablo is one of the millions of Filipinos who fulfilled her dream of having their own safe and decent home with the help of Habitat for Humanity Philippines, and has also built a better life since living in the Habitat community for 15 years now.

Coming from the province, she and her husband moved to Manila to explore better opportunities for a better future. Immediately, they grabbed the chance to move to an informal settlement area near the railways in Taguig City after purchasing a 16-square meter house for P40,000.
"The walls were made of patched-up rice sacks. The neighborhood was really loud and chaotic. The houses were very close to each other," said Elvie. "Since we were informal settlers, we did not have a water connection. We had to buy and fetch pails of water from our neighbors, who had water tanks."

It was there where Elvie and her family endured so much hardship, including a massive fire that razed their area and left them with nothing but whatever clothes they had on.

Eventually, Elvie's life changed when she got the opportunity to avail of housing from a project by Habitat Philippines. She and her family signed up for a 1,000-hour "sweat equity" for their future home.

"I felt strange during our first night here in our Habitat home because it was peaceful. It was totally different from our previous neighborhood," Elvie's son, EJ, recalled. "It was a huge help for us because here, we could concentrate on our homework without the noise."

Fast forward today, Elvie is now a proud mother of four children, all degree holders. Her son, EJ, finished his Civil Engineering course in 2014 and now works as a network manager in a water company.

"This house is valuable to us because this is where we built our dreams for our family and for our children's education, which we thought we could not achieve. This community made it possible," Elvie said, beaming with joy and pride.