Joy over first home buy

Board members of the Jireh Foundation together with Sisters of the Holy Name with the Bieth family. Picture: JANINE EASTGATE, EASTGATE PHOTOGRAPHY.

A Sudanese family is celebrating the purchase of their very first home in Clyde North, which they have described as “overwhelming.”

The Bieth family moved into their home – a new three bedroom detached home on Friday 27 July – courtesy of a joint partnership between the Jireh Foundation, Bendigo Bank and themselves.

It is the first Sudanese family the Jireh Foundation has assisted in purchasing their own home.

“My family and I feel overwhelmed by this, we never thought something like this could be possible but the Lord has made this possible,” said the eldest daughter, Achok Bieth.

“The fact that the house is ours, we own it, we have the responsibility to take care of the house and it’s something we can pass down to our children,” she said.

The Jireh Foundation was formed this year following multiple appeals to former Anglican Diocese of Melbourne Multicultural Coordinator Reverend Glenn Buijs.

“The vast majority of the requests came from within African communities. It became obvious a long-term strategic response was needed to a growing problem of housing affordability for refugee migrants,” he said.

Reverend Buijis said the Community of the Holy Name provided the Jireh Foundation with an initial grant of $500,000 which he hopes will further assist more migrant and refugee families of breaking into the housing market.

The Community Banking Sector of Bendigo Bank has also provided the much needed third party to facilitate the Jireh Foundation as an equity provider and banker.

“We hope and expect that now that the Jireh Foundation is fully operational, we will assist a minimum of four families annually to acquire a new home,” said Reverend Buijis.

Achok said her family felt like outsiders when they first stepped foot in Australia on August 2006, arriving into Melbourne.

“Owning a house in Australia is important to us because it allows us to feel like ‘Australians,” she says.

“It makes us feel like we are carrying our own weight and doing something for ourselves, so that we can stand in pride and sing ‘Advance Australia Fair’.”