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‘‘I think Mr. Mihtsun’s whole family is an example of what Habitat’s mission is all about,” said Rosemary Duretta, director of volunteers and family services for Habitat for Humanity. ‘‘Mr. Mihtsun’s always been a great partner.”

Habitat for Humanity, a nonprofit organization that helps low-income families own homes, requires each family to work 150 sweat equity hours to build their house.

But Mihtsun said that he likes helping to build the place where his family will soon live.

‘‘He’s very proud and I think it’s been hard for him to always be the recipient of help,” said his Bethesda neighbor and friend, Ellen Kleinknecht.

Although his big smile and warm spirit don’t show it, Mihtsun 49, has had a life filled with struggle. The opportunity for him to own a house may be the beginning of a hopeful future.

He is from the war-torn African country of Eritrea that has been involved in independence and border struggles with Ethiopia for more than 40 years.

He came to the United States in 1997 after winning a visa lottery, where the United States gives a certain number of visas to countries that have a low number of immigrants coming to the United States.

But he came alone, without his wife and six children.

In 1999 Mihtsun’s wife, Lentsea, called to tell him that she had breast cancer. He worked two jobs and made it possible to put her on his health insurance, and in 2000, she came to the United States to have treatment.

But the treatment was too late and she died not long after their children came to live with them in 2001.

‘‘I was in a bad situation,” Mihtsun said.

He was living in an apartment in Silver Spring with his children when his wife died. It was too small for his family and too sad to stay in the place where Lentsea died. But they had nowhere else to go.

The Bethesda community, where his children went to school, wouldn’t let a family that they had grown to admire so much go without a place to call home.

Currently, his children attend Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School and Bethesda Elementary School. Two are away at college.

‘‘There was a great deal of concern in the [Bethesda Elementary] School community,” Kleinknecht said. ‘‘I feel privileged to know him and to know his family. I don’t mean to make him sound saint-like but I am so impressed by him.”

Mihtsun works hard to provide for his family and has raised polite and kind children that are involved in the school and church communities, Kleinknecht said.

Kleinknecht’s husband told the congregation at Bethesda United Methodist Church located on Old Georgetown Road about Mihtsun’s situation and they invited him and his children to live in a house next to the church in January 2004, while paying a reduced rent.

‘‘Obviously our heart went out to him when we heard about the story,” said the Rev. Ron Foster. ‘‘He is one of the most gracious, humble men you’ll ever meet.”

However the church’s three-bedroom house was only a temporary solution. The church bought it to tear down and turn the property into more parking.

As a solution, people in the church and school communities recommended Habitat for Humanity.

‘‘Because we’ve formed a relationship with their family and they formed a relationship with the church, we’ve just been taking our time,” with adding parking, Foster said. ‘‘We were elated when the Habitat possibility came through for them.”

The Mihtsun family has lived in the three-bedroom house on the church’s property for about three years.

‘‘They saved my life,” Mihtsun said. ‘‘The way they treat me is very special.”

Mihtsun applied for the Habitat for Humanity program in 2005. It appears that life will get easier for the family because they will soon be moving into their own townhouse in Burtonsville in the spring.

Construction on Habitat for Humanity’s 24 townhouses in the Linganore Woods community began in July and the organization will begin building a second set of 12 at the same location when this one is completed.

To be selected for a home from Habitat for Humanity, families must meet several criteria, including a demonstrated need for housing, a willingness to help build the home, proof of permanent United States citizenship and they must live or work in Montgomery County for a minimum of one year.

‘‘It gives them financial security; I mean it’s the American dream,” Kleinknecht said. ‘‘I’m delighted and I think that it’s great for them but we hate them to leave our immediate neighborhood.”

As his Habitat house nears completion, Mihtsun has few words to say: ‘‘I am lucky.”