May 2016 – Hábitat para la Humanidad Guatemala

The Olga Esperanza Juarez Family

30 May, 2016/in Meet our families, News /by admin

Twenty years ago, Olga was 12 years old. Her parents partnered with Habitat Guatemala to construct one of the first Habitat homes in Guatemala.

Fast-forward twenty years, and 32-year-old Olga is the strong mother of a daughter and twin boys. She was living all that time in her mother’s home, which was well-kept with pride. But with at least 9 people in the mix, things were cramped.

So to relieve the space issue, Olga decided to partner with Habitat Guatemala, just like her mother did 20 years prior.

“Now, we bring in the TV and watch together,” says Olga. “Before, we couldn’t do that. You just can’t when everybody wants to do their own thing. There was no space. Now, it’s really spacious.”

And that same pride that her mother took in her home has been passed down, all the way to Olga’s 11-year-old daughter Dallana. “She says, ‘this is my room, this is my door,’” explains Olga. “Before, she left her clothes scattered around her room. Now, everything’s all organized.”

The new house also features something that the architects have done specially in Retalhuleu. Around the house, one meter from the ground, there is a sort of “splash zone” that, because of Reu’s rainy climate, prevents water from penetrating the concrete. It makes the home last longer, and insures the integrity of the building.

Olga is very thankful for the volunteer team and sends her warmest wishes and greetings.

Olga and her family are happy to be in their new place, happy for the opportunity to create something of their own. With the help of Habitat Guatemala, they’ve been able to succeed in creating their own space, and they’ve been inspired to think about what changes they’d like to continue making in the future.

One of the twins couldn’t muster staying awake during a boring grown-up conversation.

The Selvin Perez Family

30 May, 2016/in Meet our families, News /by admin

Every night, Selvin Perez, comes home to his own place. He’s often beat after a long evening of work as a restaurant chef. It feels good to come home to a place that has plenty of room, a comfortable entertainment center, and his own bedroom. The house also has a high ceiling to counter Retalhuleu’s inescapable heat, a simple construction technique to maintain a fresh interior temperature.

Before Selvin partnered with Habitat Guatemala, he was living with his mom in her house. Selvin recalls that they were “squeezed together,” which often caused family problems between his siblings and other family members that also lived there.

When he applied, Selvin was thinking about the future. He’s 23, and has a girlfriend who will probably become a fiancé before too long. He knew that in a few years, he would probably want to live with the love of his life, and he didn’t want her to move into his mom’s place with him.

Now that Selvin is in his new place, he’s got privacy that he never had before – after all, he’s currently got four rooms to himself! “I don’t have to worry about anything here,” he says.

Selvin has already added some ceramic tiling on his breakfast counter.

He also remembers the volunteer group that came to help him with the construction. “Many thanks to all of you. Now, I’m overcoming my obstacles day by day. All my greetings to you,” he says.

But the new place has also had an unexpected effect on Selvin – he says he’s become more respsonible. It feels good to make monthly payments on a place that’s his, and it inspires him to keep working. “I feel satisfied here,” he says.

In Retalhuleu, the architects have added a “splash zone” layer of cement to prevent the deterioration of the structure because of so much rain.

The Liliana Martinez Family

30 May, 2016/in Meet our families, News /by admin

“This, this whole area here flooded,” says Liliana, pointing down. She’s seated in a chair in her new living room, on a new cement floor. But that floor wasn’t always cement.

Before her journey to her new house, Liliana was living in a house that had a dirt floor. Its walls and roof were humble – they were constructed of decrepit sheet metal that was full of rusty holes. It was a place to call home, but it didn’t provide the family with the dignity they deserved. Every rainy season presented the same problems: floods.

Retalhuleu, in its rainiest month, gets about 15 inches of rain. Those 15 inches don’t usually come as a pleasant spring rain; instead, they often come as a 2-o’clock downpour that lasts a short time and then stops. This inconvenient style of rainfall really took its toll on Liliana’s house, and consequently her family. Streams of rain would come down the hill to where her house was located, and every time, she had to accept the fact that she couldn’t do anything to stop the rain from entering and making everything muddy and wet.

She says that even though they constructed ditches, “it always flooded.”

But it wasn’t just the flooding that caused problems. After the rains, the dirt floor would be muddy, and Retalhuleu’s humid air made the floor dry very slowly. Often, this would cause Liliana’s children to start coughing. “With everything all wet,” says Liliana, “my kids suffered from coughing fits.”

Seated comfortably in her new living room, Liliana and her rambunctious children twist open a 2-liter of soda to share. Her kids serve themselves and continue running around the living room, playing. If any of that soda spills, it’s not going to soak into the floor. Although it may seem small, it’s a big change for Liliana’s family.

“We’re happy here,” she says, smiling. “The rainfall doesn’t come inside anymore.”

Liliana passes along her thanks to the volunteers who came to help build her house, too. “I liked the experience, because they weren’t selfish at all. They were friendly. I offered mangoes, and they always ate them.” She sends her greetings and thanks as her kids start to mention all the names of the group members.

“Eventually, we want to get each kid in their own bed,” she says. Currently, a couple of her four children are still sharing beds. In the future, she wants to get the house painted and fixed up with furniture.

“We couldn’t have had a house like this,” says Liliana, “if this help hadn’t come. We were a family of scarce resources.” And now she has her house!

The Lijia Janeth Gomez Alonzo Family

19 May, 2016/in Meet our families /by admin

Lijia Janeth Gomez Alonzo is quite a woman. She seems to know everybody and is well-known in the community as a leader, she takes care of her brother who requires supervision for mental needs, and she is the proud mother of two children, Julio and Marcela.

Lijia tells about her journey as she sits down in a sofa in her new living room. Things are a little squeezed together. The love seat and the armchair are pushed up next to each other, right in front of the TV. Lijia tells that she is hosting more than her direct family, that her sister is posted up in one of the bedrooms, and her special needs brother is staying in another. Four-year-old Julio sits next to her as she starts telling the story.

She tells about the house she was living in before. It was actually a pretty nice place, in the center of the city of Chimaltenango. “I was paying 1,200 Quetzales [$155] every month for about twenty years,” she says. “But we never had enough at one time to save for a plot of land, to be able to pay that at once.”

If we do the math, that’s about five Habitat homes she could have paid off instead of twenty years’ rent.

“A few years ago, my children’s father went to the United States to look for work,” says Lijia. “He didn’t come back.” With the remesas, or money from family members in the States, that were sent back at first, Lijia was able to buy a small plot of land. But communication quit with her partner, and she was left to take care of the kids alone.

For 4-year-old Julio, Mom’s bed doubles as a trampoline

But Lijia didn’t let that bring her down. She applied for a house with Habitat Guatemala and now she is building a new life – a strong life – in her new Habitat home.

“Here, I’m paying 600. Half. There are always expenses, there are always debts to pay, so this place gives me the opportunity to do that.”

Lijia built her house mainly for one reason, to provide a better future for her kids. One opportunity that this house has given her is the ability to send her daughter to private school. Lijia says that public schools are a mess and that in private school, her daughter will get a much better education.

“They can have a better education, and a better quality of life down the road,” says Lijia. Lijia is really a special case. In Guatemala, it’s usually quite the opposite: kids are forced to work instead of go to school in an effort for added income. Lijia says she has never taken her kids out of school to work. Insead, she is working hard and making life choices based on the wellbeing of her kids.

“To have your own house implies many benefits,” says Lijia, “like the stability, and not investing in something that’s not yours.”

The outside soon-to-be-kitchen area

Having the house and taking care of her siblings has inspired Lijia to continue making changes to solidify her family‘s quality of life. She’s constructed a big open area on the side of her house: a closed space for a car, a kitchen area, and a wash area. As soon as the area is finished, she’s going to move the kitchen out there so that the living space inside is more comfortable.

Sure, things would be easier with a father, or a husband. Sure, things would be easier with an added source of income. But Lijia is proving herself as a strong caretaker of two children, a sister, and a special needs brother. She’s gotten on her own two feet and provided the stability that her family needs. And it started with a house.

The Max Fidencio Azañon Family

13 May, 2016/in Meet our families /by admin

Max opens the door of his new place. It’s well furnished. Inside, Yohana’s eyes adjust as she steps outside her bedroom. She works at night and sleeps during the day as Max takes care of the kids, 2.5-year-old Alexander and 8-year-old Natalia. Max tells the story of how they got their new house from behind his neatly cleaned dining room table.

Alexander demonstrates how he sleeps in his bed. He really nailed the part!

Max and his family were renting an apartment for 900 Quetzales (roughly $120) monthly. It was a little apartment, about the size of two rooms in his new house.

“There were other families there,” he says. The family wasn’t fond of living with so many people around. But that wasn’t the worst part.

“The hardest part of living there was when we paid. Sometimes we couldn’t. And the owners didn’t give us more time, so we had to take out other loans.”

The family was living in financially irresponsible conditions. These payday-type loans that they were forced to use had huge interest rates and the family had trouble paying them, living paycheck by paycheck. And all that money wasn’t invested; it was thrown into an endless pit of rent.

The family had tried to get their own house, but “banks don’t lend money very fast,” according to Max. Changes had to be made. They applied to Habitat Guatemala to get their own house. Within a short time, volunteers were on site helping to put up the walls of their very own place.

“Thanks for all your support,” says Max. “We are enjoying the house that you helped us build. If you are ever in Guatemala, we are here with open doors.”

Now, Max says he feels happy to have his own house after 8 years of paying rent. He’s also excited for all the ways he’s going to modify everything. He wants to put up a cement patio and a wall on the sunny side of the house, where the roof already has an extension. He also plans to put up a garage for his car and wants to get the house covered with plaster to make it look prettier and last longer.

Max and his family feel a sense of independence and tranquility, being out of the cramped part of the city. Their lives have changed for the better, and they are still making steps to become more sustainable and independent.

The Dave Jerson Canel Family

13 May, 2016/in Meet our families /by admin

“It’s better to have your own house,” says Dave. He presents himself with the “English version” of his birth name, David.

Dave’s sitting in a little sofa in the comfort of his own house. His daughters watch cartoons and play in their bedroom as he tells about his journey to his new house.

Before, he lived about 30 kilometers away from his work in a village called Balanyá. He, his wife Erika, and daughters Zoie and Tesia shared a home with Erika’s parents. Nobody was very fond of that. Of course, the wanted their own place, but trying to rake in a ton of money at once was not an option for the family. “We couldn’t pay it all at once,” says Dave.

It was because of Habitat Guatemala that the Dave and Erika and their family were able to get their own house. Habitat Guatemala provided them with a very low-interest way to get credit and make monthly payments. “If it wasn’t for Habitat, we couldn’t have constructed,” says Dave.

Now that they’re in their new place, their daily lives are very different. “Home” has started to take on a whole new meaning. “It was kind of humiliating to not have our own house,” says Dave. “Each family needs to have their own place.”

Now the couple lives only half a block away from their job, a school just down the road. They regard the change a a blessing that’s made their lives way easier and allowed more time to spend with the family.

The family has fixed up the place nicely. It’s obvious after a quick glance around the place that they’re proud to call it home. “We’re happy to have something of our own,” says Erika.

The couple also recalls the volunteers that came to help them build. “They worked really hard on the foundation, which was the hardest part,” says Dave. “More than anything, we want to thank them for helping us build the house, and for sharing their time and effort with us. They didn’t know us, but they helped us a ton.” Erika was also grateful: “Without them, we’d have spent more time in construction. The rest of the construction was much easier. They are special people for having helped others.”

The family still has plans to put in a wash basin, and when they get the funds they are going to put cement around the house to help keep things clean inside.

Not a still moment when taking photos!

“The seed of good actions transforms into a tree of life.”

Francisco Cuc, Juan Cuc, Pascuala Ajtzalam

10 May, 2016/in Meet our families /by admin

The (Three) Fransisco Cuc Families

For the 8-member family of Fransisco Cuc, standing in line for the washroom was part of their everyday routine. Even though it was a large waste of time it was an inevitable part of their day as they shared one latrine with two other families. This made for a total of 15 people sharing one latrine. Sharing the loo was a rather burdening inconvenience, as Francisco and his wife have 6 kids to support, ranging in age from 6 months to 12 years. The family of 8 live in a complex of adobe houses common in rural Guatemala. His parents and his brother’s family also live next door, and it is these three families that have taken steps towards a cleaner sanitary situation.

The latrine the families shared was in poor condition. In fact, 46% of Guatemalans use an inadequate latrine or no sanitary services at all. Habitat Guatemala believes that every person is entitled to a clean and safe place to go to the bathroom, and therefore provides clean latrines that safely treat waste. An exhaust tube also helps to eliminate any stink.

The contentment in Francisco’s voice comes through as he talks about his new latrine, telling how the team of volunteers from Thrivent Financial worked extremely efficiently and “they almost finished two latrines in one day.” In the complex of adobe houses in which Francisco and his family live, he exclaims how they built a total of 3 latrines in just two days! The latrines are built with high walls of wood, a roof and a door to provide complete privacy to the occupant. Apart from Fransisco’s latrine, the other two belong to his brother and his father who also have houses here. Now 15 people share three latrines instead of just one, successfully reducing wait times and improving hygiene. While their housing situation remains less than ideal, Francisco is very happy with his new latrine, having taken the first step towards a cleaner and safer sanitary solution.

The Pascuala Ajtzalam Tzep de Cuc Family

At just fifteen years old, Manuela Tzep de Cuc is already fluent in two languages: Quiché, the Mayan language indigenous to this area of Sololá, and Spanish, her second language. Her mother, Pascuala Ajtzalam Tzep de Cuc, speaks only Quiché. In rural communities such as the Village of Pacoxom, older people rarely have much formal education as they are generally required to work or look after younger siblings from an early age. Fortunately younger generations like Manuela’s attending school is on the rise, and in school all of their classes are taught in Spanish so they quickly learn the language. This proves integral to their integration into the work field and provides more opportunities for advancement in work and in life.

Manuela is studying in basico, similar to junior high, and has some free time to spare before going into school in the afternoon to chat about the new addition to the family home: the latrine. In September a group of volunteers from Thrivent Financial came as part of a Habitat for Humanity team to provide a more hygienic sanitary solution for Manuela, her parents, and 8 other younger siblings ranging in age from 6 months to 15 years. With 11 people sharing a living space privacy is hard to come by. Usually one can find some solace in the bathroom, but for many Guatemalan families including Manuela’s this just wasn’t possible. Before the Habitat team built their current latrine, Manuela says that they used an old latrine of sorts, with smaller walls and just a hole in the ground. It wasn’t a very secluded spot either, but it was the only option available to them due to their available resources.

Last fall, they heard from a neighbor about an opportunity to have a latrine built by Habitat. They sought out more information, and soon a team of volunteers was at their door to provide them with a clean latrine. The latrines that Habitat provides safely treat waste and eliminate any stink by way of an exhaust tube. They have high walls made of wood, a roof and a door to offer complete privacy. Manuela and family are very happy with the work done by this group, and thankful to have a safe and private space to use when nature calls.

Juana Cuc Guarchaj

Down a dirt path nestled among some trees and hidden from the view of the path sits the house of Juana Cuc Guarchaj. Here she lives with her daughter Hilda, 13 years old, Hilda´s grandmother, and various aunts and uncles to a total of 8 people under one roof. Juana speaks only Quiché, the Mayan language indigenous to the area of Pacoxom, so Hilda shyly translates the conversation to Spanish. Hilda goes to school every afternoon where all of her classes are taught in Spanish, accounting for her translating abilities.

Before Habitat Guatemala built a clean latrine for Juana’s family of 8, they shared that of their neighbours along with three other families. This made for a total of 5 families sharing one latrine! That latrine got a lot of use. For those five families, a new latrine was a really big deal.

Hilda and her mom are very happy with their new latrine and the work the volunteers did. Now instead of five families sharing a neighbour‘s latrine, Juana shares her latrine with the 8 members of her own family. This is much more hygienic, especially since it is a model that properly treats waste and exhaust with a tube to expel any stink. The new latrine also offers more privacy, and Hilda and her mom are ¨happy, very content¨ with these benefits. They enjoyed having the Habitat team with them to do the construction; they worked hard and ¨completed the latrine in only one day!¨ says Hilda, translating the words spoken by her mother. While their living conditions are still very much subpar, having a clean and hygienic sanitary solution goes a long way for the family’s physical and emotional health.

The Rosa Graciela López Vásquez Family

10 May, 2016/in Meet our families /by admin

Standing in the doorway of her new home, Rosa Graciela Lopez Vasquez wears a big smile. This house, where she lives with her husband Santos Elias and their 6 year old twin daughters Erika and Nataly, was built by Habitat and a group of Thrivent Financial volunteers in September, 2015. Rosa looks after the house in the mornings while the girls are in school and her husband is working as a state police officer for the PNC (National Civil Police).

Before having their new house built, the family of 4 lived with Santos Elias´ parents and various other family members in a simple house made of adobe (a type of clay made of water, dirt, and organic material). Adobe is better suited to dry climates and can be damaged easily during the rainy season in Guatemala. The house was small and very cramped with 8-10 people sharing one bedroom and a small kitchen. For a bathroom they used a latrine, and shared between that many people this wasn’t a clean nor a healthy sanitary option. Rosa worried about the health of her daughters, especially during the rainy season when their roof would leak causing rain to enter and they suffered a lot from the cold. The girls also had no space for healthy play. At 6 years old, play is an important part of their integral development, fostering creativity and imagination among other valuable life skills. For these reasons, Rosa and her husband decided to solicit the help of Habitat.

Rosa´s father-in-law works for Habitat and told them what the process of building a house involves and of Habitat´s low-interest loan program which would allow them to pay off the house little by little in monthly installments that incur low interest rates only to account for inflation. It was the perfect solution to their problems.

Now, Rosa says they are enjoying their new home. ¨Thank God we were able to build this house. Without Habitat we wouldn’t have been able to do it,¨she says, explaining how the costs of materials, labor, and permits would have been too much. She’s always conscious of making her monthly payment on time, but this is a responsibility she is happy to have because it signifies her steps towards independence.

In the kitchen, Rosa shows off her new stove. Made of concrete block with a chimney and a plancha (stove top) with 3 burners it allows her to cook for her family with ease without inhaling any smoke. In the old house she used to cook outside in the open air because it was too cramped inside and they would have all inhaled the smoke; they had no stove, just an open flame. ¨Here it is a lot better because whenever I want to make something I just light a small fire [under the plancha] and it heats up quickly,¨ Rosa says of the new stove. Habitat stoves are fuel efficient and economical, heating up quickly to reduce cook times and the amount of firewood needed. The house is also equipped with a bathroom.

These days the family sleeps much more peacefully. The girls have their own bedroom for the first time in their lives and they have decorated it with pictures they have colored. Sitting in their living room Rosa pulls out coloring books from the shelf and shows page after page of the artwork done by her daughters. According to their mom they love to paint and color and, looking at the pictures, it is something they are very good at.

Rosa says that Habitat has helped them live better lives and she thanks God for that. God, and the volunteers. Bringing out a stack of pictures she has of the group, she points out who’s who, remembering some of their names. ¨Habitat helped us a lot,¨ she says ¨they’ve helped many families live better. They helped the health of children, of us adults as well so that families are able to live adequately.¨

The Olga Esperanza Juarez Family

The Selvin Perez Family

The Liliana Martinez Family

The Lijia Janeth Gomez Alonzo Family

The Max Fidencio Azañon Family

The Dave Jerson Canel Family

Francisco Cuc, Juan Cuc, Pascuala Ajtzalam

The (Three) Fransisco Cuc Families

The Pascuala Ajtzalam Tzep de Cuc Family

Juana Cuc Guarchaj

The Rosa Graciela López Vásquez Family

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