Jaouad and Hoda, natives of Morocco, are creating a stable life for their children through Habitat for Humanity of Champaign County’s homeownership program. Jaouad began working at Plasti Pack, and then worked at Absopure and Rantoul products before landing in his current job at Rockwell Automation where he has worked for the past 10 years. In 2006, his soon to be wife Hoda, left her teaching job in Morocco and joined Jaouad in Champaign. Hoda completed her degree in business administration technology but has chosen to stay home and raise their 4 young children.
The Barmaki’s family has some very unique needs as their eldest daughter (10) is severely disabled and unable to walk or utilize her wheel chair in their small apartment. Their only bathroom is on the second floor. Jaouad and her therapists must carry her up and down the stairs at the beginning and end of every day. Her therapists had encouraged the Barmaki’s to look into home ownership opportunities with Habitat and when their place of worship decided to participate in Habitat’s first Interfaith Build in 2016-17, they decided it was time to apply with Habitat.
Their new Habitat home will not have stairs to navigate, and will be accessible to meet their daughters needs — so life should be much easier. “The children are looking forward to having more room and a yard where they can be outside”, Jaouad says. “They don’t have much room to play, and they are really excited about a yard and chance to play outside!” He continues, “This is a dream come true for our family. An opportunity to own our own home and become a part of a neighborhood is very exciting to us. We are so grateful to Habitat and we can’t wait to become home owners.”