Dilanda’s Story
Dilanda has a sunny disposition and a smile that brightens any room. Perhaps it’s from growing up in the islands of the South Pacific. Dilanda is from the Federated States of Micronesia, made up of 600 tiny islands between the Philippines and Hawaii.
Dilanda moved to Chattanooga in 2010 for work and has been here ever since. She says she finds peace living near the mountains, quite a change from her island roots on the family farm where mangoes, bananas, and pineapples grew. Being raised in a home where “everybody shared everything,” the youngest of 13 siblings, Dilanda is eager for a place of her own. Even so, her family stays close to her heart. She has fond memories of helping her mother gather the fruit and selling at the local market. Her father also taught school, and Dilanda loved when he was her second-grade teacher and they’d walk to school and spend the whole day together!
Most of Dilanda’s family still live in Micronesia, but Dilanda and two of her sisters moved to the States. Dilanda says she’s tired of moving around, and especially tired of skyrocketing, unaffordable, rents. She is ready to settle down in a home of her own home with her 16-year-old daughter, Kayla. Kayla is quite the musician! She sings, plays piano, guitar, and drums! Dilanda and Kayla love dogs and are excited to have their own yard for Princess, an Australian Shepherd, Taco, a mini schnauzer, and Haze, a little mutt. Dilanda is also a mother to two grown sons, one who lives in Utah and one in Hawaii.
Dilanda first heard about Habitat while visiting friends, who are also from the island area and live in Cleveland, TN. She was so impressed with how lovely their house was, and they told her it was a Habitat house. And once she discovered how affordable their mortgage was, Dilanda was sold! She came to Habitat in Chattanooga and applied. “I thank God I got approved,” says Dilanda. ”I’m going to be the landlord of my house! Nobody can tell me anything. Everyday I wake up and thank God. Everything is Him.”
Dilanda’s journey through Habitat hasn’t been without challenges. Balancing work with family and sweat equity hours was tough for Dilanda, but she met the challenge head-on and construction is ready to begin on her new home. And along with a new home, Dilanda built some great friendships along the way. “I love the people I meet. They’re good people. I met a lot of strangers, but now they’re like family,” she says.
Dilanda also learned valuable tips for the future through Habitat’s homeownership classes. She really appreciates learning about how credit scores work and how to keep raising her own score. She’s very excited about living in a home where the monthly payment is affordable and predictable and she’ll be able to save money for the future.
Dilanda can’t stress enough how grateful she is for the Habitat program and would like to say, “Thanks to all the Habitat employees for helping me from the start to get to this day. I can’t wait for my house to be done! I’m so excited!”