Long journey to home ownership for Eritrean couple

Solomon Ghebru and his family have been building a life together in Winnipeg for the past three years after years of living apart in various countries. Now, they are working toward a new goal: owning a home.

Their story is the focus of this year’s Habitat for Humanity Manitoba Cycle of Hope fundraising ride, a seven-day cycling event through southern Manitoba that begins Monday. The ride aims to raise $150,000 to support Ghebru, his wife, Mehret Awate, and their two daughters as they work toward affordable homeownership.

The couple’s journey to Canada started in Eritrea, where they grew up and attended the same church together. They left Eritrea separately, hoping to build a better life together out of the country. Ghebru travelled through Sudan and Libya before reaching Malta, while Awate travelled to Sudan and then Uganda.

After he found work in Malta, he tried to have his family join him, but government policies prevented them from reuniting. The couple married in Uganda in 2016, and their first daughter, Peniel, was born there the following year.

Awate arrived in Canada in 2021 with Peniel to reunite with her sisters in Winnipeg. Ghebru was able to join them in 2023 after receiving sponsorship support from family members.

When he finally reunited with his family, Ghebru said it was difficult to put into words.

“You can’t describe it — it was amazing,” he said.

One week after arriving in Winnipeg, he began working and now works full time in yard maintenance, serves on his workplace’s safety committee and trains new staff.

Their daughters, Peniel, 8, and Lydia, 4, are growing up in Winnipeg. Ghebru said Peniel enjoys school and sports and hopes to become an architect or engineer.

The family lives in a two-bedroom apartment, which Ghebru said can feel very small for the family. They have also faced safety concerns after a rock shattered a neighbour’s window, leaving their oldest daughter afraid to sleep alone.

Despite those challenges, the couple is focused on the future.

“The dream is just in front of us to achieve,” he said.

Habitat Manitoba’s affordable homeownership program helps lower-income families move from rental or subsidized housing into homeownership through a zero-interest, 15-year renewable mortgage model. Families do not need a down payment, but contribute 500 volunteer hours and complete financial education workshops as part of the program.

Ghebru has completed about 180 volunteer hours so far.

“I feel like I’m working for my house,” he said. “Whatever is required there, I act.”

“We are together right now, very happy raising our kids and looking forward to being the owner of our home.”

He said the Cycle of Hope riders have played an important role in helping make that goal possible.

“They bring people in unity,” he said. “They make a big difference and a big opportunity.”

Twenty-eight riders will travel more than 100 kilometres a day through communities including Steinbach, Morris, Winkler, Morden, Glenboro, Brandon, Killarney and La Salle. Along the route, they will pass Habitat Manitoba chapter builds and see how fundraising supports local families.

Leanne Taylor, the 2026 Cycle of Hope ambassador and Canadian Paralympic bronze medallist in paratriathlon, said Habitat’s work stood out to her because of its focus on helping families move forward after difficult circumstances.

“It felt to me like a lot like my injury recovery,” said Taylor, who was paralyzed from the waist down after a bike accident in 2018. “Through a lot of different agency support, I felt like I was kind of picked back up and then set on a really positive trajectory. And I just saw that same kind of idea in what Habitat was doing.”

“This just gives them that head start that they need to be able to get a little bit ahead and start from a more positive place.”

The Cycle of Hope has been running for more than 30 years and has helped raise $4 million, supporting the construction of 25 homes for Habitat families.

“Before we got this opportunity, it was impossible for us,” Ghebru said. “But now we feel we are stable. We have a dream. This dream is happening because of Cycle of Hope.”

zoe.pierce@freepress.mb.ca