Victoria Tian lives with her four children in the department of Sololá, Guatemala. She has four children (15-year-old Alex, 13-year-old María, 7-year-old Freddy, and 5-year-old Francisco). Alex and María help support their family by working on local farms while Freddy and María attend school. In addition to taking care of her family, Victoria also raises and sells chickens.

By partnering with Habitat for Humanity Guatemala, Victoria and her family now have their own smokeless stove, sanitary latrine, and water filter.

“We buy our wood because we can’t get to the mountains from where we live.”, explains Victoria. “My new stove uses significantly less wood.” This is important for Guatemalans like Victoria. For families who live in more urban areas or don’t own land, wood can be a significant expense. Habitat Guatemala smokeless stoves reduces wood use by about 50%.

Victoria continues explaining what she enjoys about her new stove: “It’s much better now; it doesn’t fill my home with smoke! The smoke used to get in my eyes and into my tortillas too.”

Victoria and her family also have positive things to say about their new sanitary latrine and water filter. “Our other latrine was very old. And it was made of plastic as well. So this one is much more comfortable. And before I had a water filter I had to boil water, but my children still had stomach aches.”

When asked about the volunteers, Victoria has positive memories. “They came here, built the stove, and we chatted.”, she says. “My children were happy that the volunteers played with them!”

Magdalena and Manuel Velasquez live in the department of Sololá, Guatemala. In their community, the language that is predominantly spoken is Quiche. Manuel works on a farm locally while Magdelana takes care of their family and makes weavings, which she sells. They also have 5 children: 3 girls and 2 boys. Their oldest child is 18 and their youngest is 3 years old.

“Our old stove was 10 years old.”, shares Manuel. “We got it through another non-profit. Because it was so old, it had deteriorated and filled the kitchen with smoke. With the new stove there is much more space to work. There are no problems with smoke and we save a lot of wood.”

He continues: “I go collect wood in the mountains and I collect a big pile of wood that lasts a week and a half. As for the latrine, I dug the pit myself. It is good that we have the new latrine because we have a big family; now we can use our new latrine and the old one as well!”

Cristobalina Socon lives with her daughters and husband Carlos in the department of Sololá, Guatemala. While her daughters attend school and Carlos works in agriculture, Cristobalina takes care of her home and family. When she learned about Habitat for Humanity Guatemala, she decided that investing in a Healthy Home Kit would be a good decision for her family.

Cristobalina’s daughters daughters are 10-year-old Lendi and 7-year-old María and because of their family is utilizing the Healthy Home Kit, their overall health has improved. Cristobalina explains: “We didn’t have a water filter before and now, thanks to God, we do. We had to drink water from the spigot and when I had time I would boil it for my daughters to drink. My daughters stomachs almost always hurt.” Because their family is utilizing the Healthy Home Kit, 10-year-old Lendi’s and 7-year-old María’s no longer experience stomach aches regularly. Cristobalina explains: “We didn’t have a water filter before and now, thanks to God, we do. We had to drink water from the spigot and when I had time I would boil it for my daughters to drink. My daughters stomachs almost always hurt.”

“Before we didn’t have a latrine, either. We had to ask other people to share.”, continues Cristobalina. “Now we have a latrine that just the four of us use! And our old stove, well it didn’t work well. It filled our home with smoke. Now my new stove lets me cook really well!”

As for the volunteers who supported her family by constructing the stove and latrine, Cristobalina has happy memories. She ends by saying: “I would like to thank God for their help and for my new stove!”

 

The Zuninga family lives in the department of Sololá, Guatemala and recently partnered with Habitat for Humanity Guatemala to implement a smokeless stove, sanitary latrine, and water filter. Karina, who lives in this home, had taken her baby to the doctor, so her in-laws talked about their experience with the Habitat Guatemala volunteers!

“Before building the smokeless stove, Karina shared my stove.”, explains Karina’s mother-in-law, Nicolasa. “We were cooking for 10 people on one stove so it is very helpful to have another stove now! We were also all sharing one latrine–so it is very beneficial to have another!

Nicolasa concludes with a message to the volunteers who spent time with her family: “Thank you for supporting my family! These changes benefit the children most of all.”