More Family Success Stories Contact: Homeowner Relations (650) 568-7322 housinginterest @peninsulahabitat.org Home Family Success Stories Abdel-Malek Family The Land of Opportunity, After All When Nabil Abdel-Malek left Egypt four years ago to take a job with his cousin's online library service in the Bay Area, he thought he'd hit the goldmine. When he arrived in Redwood City, he could not believe his good fortune - at least initially. "When I first got here, I could not believe my luck. I loved this city. I loved the schools, the people, the climate. It was, for me, a dream come true," Abdel-Malek recalls. But despite securing work for both he and his wife, Abdel-Malek's enthusiasm faded when he could not find his family a home. "I used all my spare time and concentration to look for reasonable accommodation. But, it just was not possible with our income," says Abdel-Malek, who is a permanent resident with a "green card.". So for the past four years, Abdel-Malek and his family have been renting various crowded living accommodations. For the first eight months, he, his wife, son and daughter crammed into a tiny studio, where they all ate, slept and lived in the same room. Abdel-Malek took on additional jobs, working yard duty for the Redwood City School District and doing janitorial work for Kaiser-Permanente until he could afford to move his family from their studio to a tiny one-bedroom apartment-- where his two kids slept in the living room and their monthly rent still exceeded half their income. Three years after leaving Egypt, with three jobs under his belt and still no home, Abdel-Malek's family began to question whether the United States was the land of opportunity, after all. "It was so hard to find a house. We have a son and daughter. They're getting older. They need more privacy. It was very difficult on all of us. But I love this country and I wanted to do everything I could to stay," says Abdel-Malek. Then, six months after moving into their one-bedroom apartment, a co-worker told Abdel-Malek about Peninsula Habitat for Humanity. At first, Abdel-Malek says Habitat "sounded too good to be true." But with his friend's encouragement, the Abdel-Maleks attended their first Habitat meeting, where they learned about Habitat's application process and resolved to apply. "We were just praying to get approval. Every day, my daughter would ask me 'When can we move?'" The answer arrived two months later, when Abdel-Malek was notified that his family had qualified for a new home through Peninsula Habitat. "My wife cried and danced when she heard the news. And I could finally tell my daughter, 'Soon! Soon, we will move!'" Abdel-Malek recalls. With construction about to start on the Redwood City project, the Abdel-Maleks are eager to get started on their "sweat equity" work and homeowner workshops, where they will learn about conflict resolution, Homeowner Associations, basic budgeting and financial planning, among other trainings that prospective Peninsula Habitat homeowners receive. The Abdel-Maleks are also anxious to meet other Habitat families who could be their future neighbors on Lincoln Avenue. Although the time commitment may prove challenging for his busy schedule, Abdel-Malek expects the process to be fun overall and insists, "it's a small price to pay." "This. This is the real dream come true," he says. "And Habitat did it.