(By Emma Sapong, Buffalo News) Four years ago, Claver and Edisa Sango were homeless refugees who were trying to raise a family, living in abject poverty in a squalid Congolese refugee camp.
Today, the Sangos own a new four-bedroom house in the Broadway-Fillmore neighborhood.
“I’m very happy,” Claver Sango said Sunday, through an interpreter. “In the refugee camp, I had no hope, no dream of having my own home.”
But the Clarence Habitat Coalition made the American Dream possible for the couple from Burundi.
Through the coalition, Clarence residents raised $85,000 and worked with Habitat for Humanity to build a house for the Sangos in Buffalo.
The four-bedroom, 1,350-square-foot ranch house on Fox Street was dedicated Sunday.
“Immigrants have so much to offer, and they have so much to overcome — language, culture differences,” said Monsignor Fred Leising of Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Catholic Church. “So we wanted to help them better integrate in the community and welcome them.”
This is a great story and reflects some of the positive trends in Broadway Fillmore. The Fox street project serves as a model for the potential for good infill in the neighborhood. All of the houses are built energy efficient to meet neighborhood LEED standards. And, they blend into the urban fabric. The Guilford projects because they are clustered together are okay, but nothing in comparison to the Fox street projects. And, it is great to see the emphasis on new immigrants, the history of Broadway Fillmore has been its openness to immigrants.