Brenda Lidia Hi Sipac
Brenda Lidia is a single mother of an eight year old daughter, Yorleni. They live in Tecpan, a town in the Chimaltenango department of Guatemala, where she works cleaning houses while Yorleni attends school. They moved into their new home in June, built on land given to her by her mother, and are happy and grateful to have their own space.
Before partnering with Habitat for Humanity Guatemala, Brenda and Yorleni lived in a house with her mother and other relatives. There were many people living in the house and it wasn’t an ideal situation. Brenda’s mother had to sell her home and now is renting, but Brenda worried that one day she and her daughter would be forced to leave the house, so when she learned about Habitat for Humanity from her employer, she decided to move forward in building her own home.
Brenda shares that the process of building her home was difficult, but that she is glad she made it happen. After working all day, she would work on building her home. For her, the most difficult part of the process was transporting the materials to the land, but partnering with Habitat for Humanity Guatemala gave her support throughout the whole process. Though the construction of the house is complete, Brenda has plans to build a covered patio space outside the house and is in the process of finalizing a little kitchen space that will be attached to the house. Because it is her own house, she is truly able to make it her home.
In addition to her job cleaning houses, Brenda spends time on Sunday weaving traditional Guatemalan clothing which she sells at the market. Now that she has her own home, she has a quiet space to create and focus on her craft. Yorleni is also excited about learning how to weave and Brenda is happy to share her skills with her daughter.
Brenda and Yorleni loved having volunteers from Habitat for Humanity Canada come and work with them. She emphasizes that she knows the volunteers came a long way to work on her home and she appreciates the effort they made. She would like to thank them for the time they spent in Guatemala with her and Yorleni.
