HABITAT for Humanity Guyana (HfHG) Inc. continues its efforts to provide adequate shelter for low-income families through its Buy-a-Block 2012 initiative, whereby the organisation constructed a home for former Qualfon Guyana employee Ms. Kaminie Chichester. A mother of three, Chichester lived in a one-bedroom home with inadequate toilet facilities and living space. When illness forced her to discontinue her employment, she believed her dream of home ownership had ended. However, having worked at Qualfon Guyana for over 20 years, Chichester had won the hearts of many at the local office and at the company’s headquarters in Mexico, causing the organisation to play an instrumental role in partnering with HfHG to construct a two-bedroom home where Chichester now resides.

That construction process saw Qualfon staff volunteering their time and providing labour at various stages.

When the home had been completed, Chichester expressed her gratitude to HfHG and Qualfon for the tremendous effort made to provide her with a home to enhance her quality of life.

HfHG’s Buy-a-Block initiative is an annual resource mobilization campaign that engages local donor organisations, groups, and individuals in a yearlong campaign to raise finances which equal the total cost of the number of concrete blocks required to build either of two types of Habitat homes.

Ms Chichester benefited from a two-bedroom lower flat home, which required 1,846 blocks. The initiative saw support from various organisations, including Qualfon Guyana, Courts, Best Buy Auto Sales, Body Max gym, Demerara Bank, Footsteps, Bounty Meat Centre, Fat Boy’s, HJ Entertainment, the Inner Wheel Club of Georgetown, and Calvary Baptist Church.