Smokeless Stoves: Dina Linares

“I feel really happy and grateful with my new stove!”, begins Dina. “The old one was broken and the smoke was getting inside the room.”

Dina and her husband live with their three children, Kevin (14), Emely (9) and Cristian (3), in a community in the department of Chimaltenango. They partnered with Habitat Guatemala to obtain a smokeless stove, which is designed to use significantly less wood than most stoves families have access to, which saves money, time, and resources.

Dina concludes with a message to the volunteers: “I am so thankful to God and the volunteers who supported me by assembling my new stove, now I keep it really clean and take good care of it”.

#GivingTuesday : Teresa Churunel Family

 

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Doña Teresa is 55 years old and currently lives in a small village called Caserio Churuneles 1, Pujujil 3 in Sololá, Sololá, with her granddaughter Eva Saraí (5), whose mother recently passed away. The house in which they are living belongs to her eldest son, and it is made of adobe and concrete. Recently, a landslide tore down the entire wall of one room and left the rest of the house unstable. Teresa and her granddaughter are still living in one of the rooms, taking the risk of the house falling apart while inside.

Recently they bought a piece of land near the house, where they are planning to build a new house, but they do not have enough income to apply for a loan. The land where they are planning to build needs some fixing too, in order to make it safe to live.

Doña Teresa has some physical limitations which prohibit her to have a formal job, so she weaves textiles, and takes care of her granddaughter. Her son, Jesús, takes care of her and the house, but only earns US$170 per month working at a grocery store in the capital city.

This coming #GivingTuesday Habitat Guatemala hopes to support Teresa and her family with a new house, so they can have an adequate place to live. With your help, anything is possible!

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Smokeless stoves: Carmen Axón

Carmen and her family live in a small community in the department of Chimaltenango, Guatemala. She and her husband live in their home with two children, Brian (5) and Keydi (3).  While Carmen’s husband works in the fields growing crops, she takes care of the children.

Carmen talks about her stove, saying: “It is of great help, now I can cook multiple dishes at the same time,” she continues: “I feel better, I can cook without burning myself, and there is no smoke for the kids. I also save a lot of wood.”

Carmen finishes by explaining that now, because of the chimney that is part of the smokeless stove design, her kitchen does not fill with smoke when she cooks. “Before there was so much smoke, and my daughter Keydi got really sick. Now, there is no more smoke and Keydi is much better!” she says happily.

To the volunteers she refers: “I am really grateful with them, may God bless you all. Because of your help, now we have a safe place to cook.”

Herrera Family

Cesar Herrera, his wife María Piedad and their two daughters, Adela (11) and Elena (2) are living in their new house in Chimaltenango. Before partnering with Habitat Guatemala, Cesar, who is an electrician, and his family were renting and moving from one house to another.

They learned about Habitat Guatemala at a local hardware store that promotes our work, and decided it was a great opportunity to finally have a house of their own. “Last year, our Christmas gift was the authorization of our mortgage loan,” says María.

Cesar explains: “our hope was to give our daughters a safe place where to live, and now it is a dream come true.”

The Herrera family is decorating their house little by little and have a lot of plans for the future, like adding a concrete fence out front,  false ceiling and even a small salon space for María, who is a hairstylist.  “I have always dreamt of having a big garden, with different types of flowers and plant, and now I am happy, because little by little I am starting to grow my own garden,” says María.

“We feel really happy, renting was not easy, but now we are in our home,” expresses Cesar about their house.

They have great memories about the volunteers, “It was a very special experience, we shared laughs and jokes,” they continued: “We would not have advanced so fast in the construction if it had not been for the volunteers help.”

“We are very grateful for the volunteers, they were a big part of our dream that is now a reality. May God bless you all, feel welcome anytime you want to come back, we will happily receive you!” they expressed, as a message to the volunteers.

Cesar Yuman Family

Cesar Yuman and his mother Marielena are happily living in their new Habitat home.  After renting a small house for more than eight years, they wanted to have a place of their own.“We know we are making a monthly mortgage payment, but now it is for our own house,” says Marielena.

Cesar and his brother Hugo learned about Habitat Guatemala several years ago, but did not have land to build on.  Time passed by, and when they had the opportunity to buy a piece of land, they decided to build their houses together.

Marielena expresses: “I feel really happy with this house, I sometimes look at it and wonder if it is real, if it is really ours.” In the future, they are planning on painting all the walls and adding a concrete fence in the backyard.

“All the volunteers were really kind, they all have a great heart,” Marielena continues: “May God bless you all and your families for the great job you did! we are very happy with our house.”