A family who lost their home in the New South Wales bushfires have been given a – considerably more compact – home, after their friend entered them in an online competition.
The 6m by 2.5m metre house was delivered to the Nymboida holiday park, where Nina Jongen, her nine-year-old daughter, Miwanyo, and Miwanyo’s father have been living since their homes were destroyed in a devastating bushfire that swept through the bush surrounding the town on 8 November.
The mud brick family home where Jongen had been living, which was built by her parents 32 years ago, was destroyed, as was a nearby house where Miwanyo’s father lived and 83 other homes in the area.
Her friend Linda Giuliano entered Jongen in a competition to win a tiny holiday house, run by Amazon Australia.
The house, which arrived with a stocked pantry, a Christmas tree and presents, was moved to their family property at Nymboida on Wednesday. It will allow them to return home for Christmas.
“At this point now it just means the world,” Jongen said. “I just lost my home in a bushfire and now I have a luxurious, comfortable little space to call home while we rebuild our lives.”
Jongen said she and her family intended to rebuild on their property and help regenerate the surrounding bush. Earlier, Jongen told Guardian Australia she and her daughter were feeling a sense of “ecological grief” for the loss of the previously lush forests.
“[This house] means we can be back on property, we can be present for the cleanup,” Jongen said. “I am so excited to have comfort, and somewhere to rest and relax and to be.”
She said she was grateful to Giuliano for entering her in the competition.
“I felt so touched and blessed to have a beautiful friend in my life that would think to do such a lovely thing for me,” she said.
The house was built by Aussie Tiny Houses and supplied by Amazon Australia.
