A shattered dream - help for a home

Hello lovelies,

my name is Ewelina, I am a single mum of a wonderful daughter and I have been working in care for over 20 years. My life revolves around helping other people - and most importantly helping my daughter to have a better life.

A few years ago, I started saving every cent I could. I wanted to enable us to have a small house, a safe place where we could breathe, away from the stress of the city. Mainly because of my daughter, who is struggling with some health challenges and for whom city life is simply not good. After several corona illnesses, I developed asthma.

In March 2024, the time had finally come: I found our dream home - a small 75 m² house. The moment I held the keys in my hand was indescribable. The dream I had cherished for years was coming true! I will never forget the smile on my daughter's face when we entered the house for the first time. It was our home.

I took out a loan for the renovation, found a company to do the work after a long search and met the builder, who seemed incredibly professional at first. He promised us that everything would be perfect. His plans, his suggestions - everything sounded so convincing. He seemed friendly, competent and trustworthy. I thought I had found the perfect partner to make our dream come true.

But behind this façade was a conniving fraudster. Within two months, this man had scammed tens of thousands of euros from me. He demanded advance payments, showed me supposed orders and invoices for materials such as heat pumps, solar panels, windows and doors. Everything seemed genuine - but it was all a lie.

He disappeared without warning. With my money. And with our dream. He had not only betrayed our trust, but also destroyed our lives. When I found out from the building authority that he had torn down the roof truss without authorisation and that the house was in danger of collapsing, I felt as if the ground was being torn out from under my feet. Shortly afterwards came the next piece of bad news: the house had to be demolished because it was a danger.

Now, almost a year later, our dream home has disappeared. Everything I worked so hard for is gone. I'm sitting there with an empty property, unimaginable debts and a broken heart. My daughter is devastated. She was so looking forward to our new life and now everything is lost.

The police couldn't find the builder and the search was called off. A court has ruled that he owes me €300,000, but I will probably never see it again. And so I'm now paying off two loans for an empty property, while we barely have enough money at the end of the month for the essentials.

We are now on the breadline. I can't pay the loans and our rent at the same time and have already had to take on a lot of private debt to make ends meet. There's often nothing left at the end of the month and I don't know how much longer I can keep going.

But I don't want to give up - because of my daughter. I can still see her smile when we entered the house for the first time. That smile gives me the strength to keep fighting.

With additional financing from the bank, the support of my parents and a new building licence, I want to try one last time to make our dream come true. But I still need €150,000 to finish the house.

That's why I'm turning to you to ask for your support. Every donation, no matter how small, brings us a step closer to this goal. I want to show my daughter that there is hope despite everything, that we don't have to give up.

I have always believed that it is important to be a good person. But the deception of this master builder has shown me the darkest side of humanity - and brought us to the brink of despair.

Please help us to rebuild our dream of a home. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for any support.

Ewelina