May 2016 – Page 2 – Hábitat para la Humanidad Guatemala

The Wilmer Donald Poncio Yax Family

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

Wilmer’s house sits against a picturesque backdrop. Rolling green hills and blue sky paint a perfect picture with the new home built by Habitat volunteers at the foreground of the shot. Just down the path, a 30-second walk away, is an outdoor community space used mainly for washing laundry by hand in the concrete basins. The land on which Wilmer’s home sits was owned by his mother, who divided up her terrain into plots for three of her children and gave this space to Wilmer for him to build a shelter of his own.

Brenda, Wilmer’s sister, is in a brand new chair in the living room as she tells her brother’s story. He had previously lived with his parents and four other siblings. There are nine kids in total in the family, but four of his siblings are already married and have moved out of the family home. The house was plenty big, but seeing his siblings move out and gain independence sparked something in Wilmer. Having heard of Habitat from an advertisement on social media, Wilmer decided to pursue the opportunity and find out more about what he would need to do get a house. He already had a plot of land and a steady job, so in September of 2015 a group of Thrivent volunteers came to Sololá as part of a Habitat for Humanity team. They came to support Wilmer in the construction of his new home, and Brenda says they did just that. “They were nice people who worked really hard to build his house” she adds. Brenda remembers the construction process as being very fast, and in fact the volunteer group from Thrivent knocked a full week off the total build time.

Made of block with a roof of corrugated sheet metal, the house is built to withstand any natural disasters in the area. It has a sturdy foundation built with earthquake resistant construction techniques, and a roof that won’t lift off in strong winds or hurricanes. Due to its geographical location along the Pacific coast, the country sometimes experiences the tail ends of hurricanes during the months of September and October. Small tremors are frequent occurrences, as Guatemala lies in a major fault zone. Generally these aren’t of a magnitude to cause much damage and are often slight tremors felt in the feet. There are exceptions to this however, and Habitat for Humanity Guatemala was founded after one such exception, the 1976 earthquake that shook the country, toppling many adobe homes.

More than just walls and a roof however, this house represents something much bigger for Wilmer: independence, family, pride and safety. In a word, it represents home. While Wilmer isn’t yet married, he is thinking ahead to a time when he will be and is making plans for then. He wants kids of his own and wants them to be able to have their own space, to know privacy and to gain independence from that. Until the time when he starts his own family he will live the the house alone, having gained independence from moving out of his parents’ home and starting a new chapter of his own. He holds a steady job as a primary school teacher and with this income plans to fix up the house a bit more once he has finished paying off his low-interest Habitat loan. For Wilmer, this is an exciting time in his life. He has a supportive family, his own house, a girlfriend, and the prospect of a stable future.

: The community wash area just a short walk away.

The Toribio Chajil Family

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

When he tells the story, his voice drops almost to a whisper. It’s subtle, but there’s a proud little smile behind his words. He tells his story enchantedly, like a grandfather telling his grandchild a story about princes and dragons.

It all started in a nursery. Not for children, but a nursery for growing trees and plants. Toribio, father of four children between 25 and 35, had a job in forestation at a local nursery and worked every day to learn about proper growing techniques of San Lucas’s native flora.

In 1999, Toribio’s talent and knowledge on horticulture and forestation was noted by a group of international travelers who invited Toribio to speak at a conference in Wichita, Kansas. Toribio shared his knowledge and was given a stipend for being a guest speaker and for his dedication to protecting the environment.

A stipend in the United States goes a long way in Guatemala. So Toribio bought a plot of land with that chunk of money. The curious thing is that it wasn’t just any regular plot of land.

The land was sacred. It was home to a sacred Mayan rock which was used for traditional ceremonies.

“These days, there are churches and they have a different idea of what to do with the land,” says Toribio. “Now, the people come and they’re free do their ceremonies. There’s no problem.”

On what is now Toribio’s land, Mayan community members come and they bless the seed before planting, they baptize their children.

Effectively, Toribio saved a major cultural heritage spot from being ruined by private owners. Sure, the site is on private land, but Toribio has every intention to preserve it and act as a caretaker. He’s quick to point out that his last name Chajil, means “husband or guardian of the land” in the native Mayan dialect.

But his success didn’t come without some struggle. Toribio was living in an old house nearby with 14 other people. Everyone was family, but his sons and daughters kept getting married and having kids and the quarters were increasingly cramped. There were only 6 rooms, so for his youngest daughter, Maria, “there was no place for her.”

So Toribio and his daugther María decided to partner with Habitat to construct a house on the plot of land of the Mayan ceremonies.

“My daughter says to me, ‘Dad, I want to build a Habitat house here, because Habitat is our friend. Daddy, you can live here too,‘ so we did! And I feel privileged. Very grateful to God for the support that I’ve received. I’m very proud, humbly, to know that little by little I am living with dignity. We want to share with other people, we want to maintain communication with Habitat because we want to continue helping other people. I feel very very thankful to God.”

Behind the house, there’s a number of big rocks surrounded by ash that have a special significance for the locals. They pass through Toribio’s gate into the protected area. Toribio says he’s planning to clean out the front of his yard in order to make space for potential visitors – even space to accommodate buses. Of course, he says, he won’t charge anyone.

Toribio‘s also looking into the future. His success with his Habitat house, the forestation project, and the caretaking of the Mayan ritual site has sprung him forward into a world of new ideas. He’s contemplated writing a book, and really wants to eventually gather up the resources to open an ecological park so that people from all around the world can come and learn about the environment.

For now, he’s proud to be living up to his family name, caretaker of tradition and caretaker of family.

María Lopez, Margarita Dolores, & María Chacah

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

The María López Family

Maria Lopez, 49, is the strong matriarch of a household of 18 children and grandchildren. With so many mouths to feed, she is constantly busy cooking, cleaning, and weaving baskets to sell around town. Accordingly, it is essential that her home has a reliable and functional stove.
For years, Maria cooked on a stove that would start unwanted fires and produce lots of smoke. Her whole family was breathing the stove’s smoke daily and her home was dirty with smoke residue. This all changed when she found out that, with the help of Habitat, installing an alternative smokeless stove would be possible.
Maria has fond memories of the volunteer team that came to construct the stove. She remembers, “The brigade worked so hard. I am so grateful for them.” She can now cook all of her family’s favorite foods on the stove top without burning her hands or getting lots of smoke in her eyes.
In addition to the stove, Maria’s family is happy to have a brand new latrine in the backyard. It has sturdy wood walls, a tin roof with open space for ventilation, and best of all, a plastic toilet covering the earth. Maria remarks, “It is better than our old one, because I don’t have as much of a mess here.”
Overall, the new smokeless stove and latrine have provided healthy and clean upgrades for Maria and her family, taking necessary steps to reduce the risk of lung and and airborne disease.

The Margarita Dolores Pacheco Family

For Marcela Jojero, age 79, receiving her smokeless stove was an emotional rollercoaster. Amid the excitement of the volunteer team’s arrival and the construction of the new stove, Marcela’s husband, who had been suffering from an illness for some time, passed away. Surrounded by Habitat volunteers and family, Marcela mourned her husband’s death. “It’s such a shame that he couldn’t live to enjoy the stove,” she says. Nevertheless, with her husband’s memory alive and strong, the stove brought much happiness and improvement to her life.
Sacarias Cacach, age 12, and Maricela Cacach, age 13, are two of Marcela’s grandchildren who speak the native Mayan dialect and Spanish. They explain that the new stove is much better than the old one. It is easier to use, produces no smoke, and uses less wood to stay hot. Maricela explains, “The new stove is great. It’s easier to clean and cooks food faster.” They often help their grandmother with cooking on the new stove and cleaning it with a small straw brush. Together they cook tortillas, soups, and vegetables, among other favorite foods. Marcela misses her husband everyday, but is happy to be able to easily cook and share meals with her children and grandchildren.
Their new smokeless stove causes less damage than the old one – both to their health and to their house. The house is no longer filled with smoke, and its users can breathe freely. Now, kneeling over a fire on the ground is just a memory.

The María Chacah and Ana Rosalia Families

Maria Chacah Samol, age 45, and Ana Rosalia Sanic, age 23, live next door to each other and are always busy cooking for their husbands and children. They are both thrilled to have received new stoves and latrines from Habitat, which they agree are much better than what they had been previously using. Ana Rosalia explains, “We called Habitat because, above all else, there were problems with how much smoke the stoves were producing.”
The new stoves use less wood, are bigger, and are much easier to use. Whereas the old stoves would use ten logs of wood to stay hot, the new one requires as little as two. Furthermore, the families no longer have to worry about the health risks of breathing in smoke day after day while cooking. The new stoves produce virtually no smoke, and thus are much safer for their growing families.
Growing families also need clean and hygienic bathrooms, so Maria and Ana Rosalia are grateful to have new latrines. The new latrines are a great improvement, as they are well ventilated and have plastic toilets covering the earth, which are much easier to use and clean.
The two women remember the construction process fondly. They say that the international volunteer team was friendly and hardworking. The new stoves and latrines serve as daily reminders of the wonderful crew that dedicated their time and energy to helping their families live healthier and easier lives.