Joycelyn Wyatt and her mother in front of the Wyatt’s new home

Joycelyn Wyatt went on cocaine and alcohol binges for days at a time, returning to her apartment in a subsidized housing project to take care of her two small children only when she felt like it. "One time when I went to pick up my children at my mother’s house, no one was there," she recalls. "My mother repeatedly warned me that she would have Children’s Protective Services step in if I brought them to her house and didn’t come back. When I didn’t have my children, I realized I was lost. I didn’t know where to go, where to turn.

"I phoned the church near my apartment. The lady who answered could hear the distress in my voice and asked, ‘Is there anything I can do for you? Why don’t you come to the office?’ I had no where else to go, so I went."

When Ms. Wyatt began going to the church every day for guidance and to pray, her mother returned her two children to her. Then the church offered Ms. Wyatt a job as a secretary. After three months of training and a month on the job, she received her first paycheck. She promptly spent it on drugs and was gone for three days. When Ms. Wyatt returned, her boss told her she had to enter a recovery program if she wanted to keep her job. Even though it was her third attempt to quit drugs, Ms. Wyatt agreed and enrolled in a 30-day program.

She remembers, "When I got out I knew it was going to work for me. However, I wouldn’t stay in my apartment because I couldn’t be around the same people and places. I wanted something better, some place where I could raise my boys where they wouldn’t be around drugs. So we moved in with my mother.

"Then I saw on TV that Houston Habitat for Humanity was going to build some homes and thought this might be perfect for me. I applied in August of ’97, was approved in October, and in January of ’98 started my 300 sweat equity hours. The first day I went, I took my sister and aunt with me. We built doorframes at the Habitat warehouse.

"We had classes on budgeting and finances and after completing them, I got to choose the area where I wanted to live. After you get so many hours of work in, you get to choose your floor plan. I was so excited I didn’t care what the floor plan looked like. I just wanted three bedrooms, so my boys could have their own rooms, and a yard. I wanted it to be nice, clean, neat, new, in a nice little neighborhood. I wanted something for my kids so they wouldn’t choose the other side of life."

In June, ten months after she submitted her application, Ms. Wyatt and her family moved into their new home. "I went to fill out papers at the Habitat office that day and left my mom with the kids at the house. When I came back, I had a house full of furniture that people had donated. When I walked in, I wanted to cry. That night I slept on the couch. My mother had bought two mattresses for the boys, and they slept on those. It was a wonderful thing. I had my own home."

Ms. Wyatt lives in the house of her dreams, has stayed off drugs and continues to work at the church. Even though she recently was diagnosed with breast cancer for the second time, Ms. Wyatt remains determined. She says, "I know we’re going to beat this thing because God didn’t bring me this far to stop now. I’ve got to be here for my boys, to see them grow up to be respectable young men.

"We have a whole new life! This house is the ultimate for someone who wants a better life but can’t afford it on a small salary. Our good fortune is leading to bigger and better things."

Back to index