Habitat for Humanity Hamilton Home Renovation

Key Presentation Ceremony for Rosemont Avenue, Hamilton June 19, 2008 To the Dedinca Family

The Dedinca Family

We are proud to introduce our Partner Family for the Rosemont Home Renovation Build.

Naim and his lovely wife Bukurija, immigrated to Canada in 1999, along with 4 of their 5 children. Adelina (22), Shqiponja (20), Mimoza (18) and Arber (16). Their youngest child, Ereza, born in Canada, will be two years old in July.

This beautiful family was forced out of their home and country of Kosovo, during the civil war. Bukurija is Albanian and she and Naim made the decision to protect their family by moving to Albania. Wishing to get as far away as they could from the conflict in Kosovo, the family applied to immigrate to Canada as refugees. They were selected and moved to Canada along with Naim’s father who was nearly 90 years of age at the time. Mr. Dedinca Sr. passed away last year, here in Hamilton.

The family applied to Habitat for Humanity Hamilton for consideration as a Partner Family in the fall of 2007, and was selected from a number of applicants. Given the size of the family (7) and the fact that the Rosemont property had so many bedrooms, it was a perfect match. Work on the renovation of the 1930’s built home began in mid-December of 2007.

As part of their requirements, the family was needed to perform 500 hours of volunteer work at the build site and also in the ReStore run by Habitat for Humanity Hamilton. This is referred to as ‘Sweat Equity”.

The family is very busy. Naim recently completed a truck driving course and has secured his AZ driving license. He recently began a new job. The older daughters, Adelina and Shqiponja work while their younger sister Mimoza is a fulltime university student pursuing a law degree. Sixteen year old Arber is completing grade 10. Two year old Ereza is a sweet little girl who is well loved by her parents and older siblings.

The family looks forward to moving into their 5 bedroom home where they will all have their own space and enjoy backyard BBQ’s. The big garden in the backyard will see lots of action as the family plan to grow an abundance of vegetables.

Habitat for Humanity is committed to giving hard working, low income families "a hand up, not a hand out". The Dedinca Family is a perfect example of such families.