Newest Morden-Winkler Habitat for Humanity family celebrates the good news
A Morden family is wrapping up 2025 on a high note thanks to the news that they have been selected to be the recipient of the Winkler-Morden chapter of Habitat for Humanity’s next house.
Mustafa and Najah and their four children—Malak, 10, Manar, 8, Ayman, 5, and Mayar, 2—have officially signed a partnership with Habitat that will see them move into the home the chapter hopes to build in Morden in 2026.
When they got the call earlier this month, there was a great deal of celebration, the couple shared.
“It was just screaming,” laughed Mustafa.
When the Habitat reps contacted them a few weeks ago, asking if they could stop by for a chat, Najah said they didn’t want to get their hopes up too high after months of going through the selection process.
“I was scared to ask what the decision was … but when they came they said we had big smiles on our faces, and I was just crying and laughing. We waited for this news a long time.”
The Syrian family immigrated to Canada as refugees in 2019, first settling in Carman before moving to Morden in 2022 so Mustafa could start a new career as a welder at Farm King.
“We found a better opportunity for work … I was looking for a better future,” he said, noting that’s what drew them to Canada as well. “We were looking for a good future—not just for us, but for our children.”
“Morden is a nice place,” added Najah. “People are very kind here, helpful. It’s safe. My kids, they have lots of friends here now from school. We like it here.”
Since coming to Canada, the family have lived in several rental homes, finding themselves multiple times having to move after their various landlords announced intentions to remove their properties from the rental market.
Being a Habitat family will finally mean some stability for Mustafa and Najah and their kids.
“It’s a big meaning for us,” Najah said. “Peace of mind, safety, less stress for us and for our children—everybody will be happy. And the kids, they will be feeling comfortable and maybe focused more on their schoolwork and success in school because they’re not thinking about moving again.”
The cost of housing made owning their own home a near impossible dream for the family.
“It’s hard,” Mustafa said. “We can’t afford to buy a house because all the houses sell for high and the rent is also very high. So almost we need to work one job and a half to two or four [jobs] to make it work.
“That’s why Habitat is a very, very nice program,” he said. “It’s a really good program to give families a better future.”
“A better life,” added Najah.
They will be the seventh family in Morden-Winkler to achieve home ownership through the Habitat program, which provides families with zero per cent mortgages with no money down and monthly payments geared towards their income. Families also must contribute 500 hours of “sweat equity” in the program by volunteering in their communities or on the build itself, once it gets going.
Those volunteer hours are an integral part of the Habitat program, noted Christina Falk, who is the chapter support manager for Habitat for Humanity Manitoba and is also involved with the Winkler-Morden chapter.
“We think it’s a hugely important part, especially in our rural chapter areas, because it not only creates that volunteer spirit which Habitat for Humanity is known for, but it also really connects families to their community,” she said. “You make new friends, you learn new things about your community, and you realize that you are needed in the community. There’s so many groups doing wonderful things in Morden and Winkler, and they all need help, and I think some people just don’t know the value that they hold in being able to offer that help.”
It also helps put a face to the selected family for the many generous donors who make the Habitat builds possible, Falk added.
For Mustafa and Najah, the volunteering is an opportunity to thank the community for being so supportive and welcoming.
“Volunteering, it makes us more connected to the community,” said Mustafa.
“We are happy to do it and we are ready to do it,” Najah added.
They’ve already started reaching out to various non-profits to see how they can get involved.
Increasing needs
The chapter received more interest from potential families than ever this time around, and the selection committee certainly had a tough decision to make, Falk shared.
“There is definitely increasing need across both Morden and Winkler,” she said. “It’s just getting more and more difficult for people to get a home, and rent is not going down—it keeps going up.”
The selection committee’s decision comes down to a lot of factors, including a family’s ability to take on a mortgage, their current living situation, community references, and even the age and number of kids they have.
“We have a very rigorous application and interview process and we look at all aspects of a family’s financial situation,” Falk said, noting Mustafa and Najah demonstrated incredible money management skills, incurring very little debt since making their home in Canada.
“It is really, really hard in this economy to have a lower income and have little or no debt and manage your money really well that way,” Falk said. “The families we partner with not only have a need, but they also have demonstrated their ability to manage their money well, and we want to make sure that they are honoured and appreciated for that.”
Having to bounce around multiple rental residences is unfortunately a common story for many families.
“Their housing situation is pretty typical of a lot of local families that are renting,” Falk said. “They’ve struggled to be able to stay in one place for any length of time because they’re often renting houses—because they have four children, they need the space of a house—and their landlords will sell the property and then they have to move again.
“This is a problem we’re seeing over and over again with families … it disrupts everything for children when you’re moving so often.”
The plan is to build Mustafa and Najah’s new, more permanent in Morden, but in order to do that the chapter needs to find some available land.
“They want to stay in Morden, and our goal is to build in Morden, but it is very hard to find a lot to build on right now in Morden,” Falk said.
“So if anyone out there has a lot—whether it’s an infill lot, which would be amazing, or in a new development in town … any kind of land that we could build on, please reach out,” she said, noting that while a donation of or discount on the cost of land is always a welcome and generous gift to the non-profit, they are willing to purchase property at fair market rate to make the next house happen. “We really want to get this build started in May.”
With several Habitat homes already up and running in both Morden and Winkler, all generating mortgage payments, the chapter finds itself having to come to the community less for financial support than it has in the past, but some help is still needed.
“We actually are quite blessed and we have a good amount already towards the next build,” Falk said. “We’re probably looking to fundraise about $50,000 more, but that depends on the land costs.”
You can make a donation to the Winkler-Morden chapter of Habitat of Humanity online at habitat.mb.ca/chapters/winkler-morden/ or get in touch with them via email to info@wm.habitat.mb.ca.
