Lesly Amparo, her parents, Hugo and Carmen and her 7-month-old daughter, Allison live in Rabinal, Baja Verapaz. Lesly is a police officer, Hugo works on billboards and has experience as a welder while, Carmen is a homemaker.

The family have lived in their Habitat home for a month and a half now and Lesly feels honored to have her family together under  her new home. Lesly, who is a police officer, was at work when we stopped by. We spoke with her parents, Hugo and Carmen about the family’s transition into their new home. The family’s joy is obvious as we met with them!

“First thank you to Habitat for the help that they gave, because for so long we were renting and already having this home is different, and it’s better,” says Hugo.  They have five adult children and wanted a space where everyone could come together. “We have plans to make the house larger, to add two more rooms to have enough space for the whole family,” adds Hugo.

Prior to their Habitat home, “we had been renting for 5 years and even before, we had been renting as well” says Hugo, “we feel happy to have something to call our own.”

When asked about their favorite part of the house, Hugo responds: “My favorite part of the house is how beautiful the house is and how much space there is in each room.” The family is content and remembers well the experience of building the house. To the group of volunteers who came, the family says, “there was so much happiness with the volunteers here, many of them played with Allison.” “She’s so easy going and loved to play with everybody” says Carmen. “Thank you for coming to help build this home for our family, we are happy to have a place to call our own, thank you” says Hugo.

Rodolfo, Silvia and their three children, Diana (20) Evelyn (18), David (12) live in San Juan Ostuncalco, Quetzaltenango. Rodolfo works in agriculture and Silvia washes clothes for local families.

The couple lived in her former house for her entire married life, “all our children were born there,” says Silvia. The old house, made of adobe, belonged to Rodolfo’s parents and when both in-law’s passed, the family inherited the adobe brick house.  The age of the house and dirt structure meant it was harder to repair and the couple wanted more space for themselves and their growing children, who they felt needed more space. The family have been in their Habitat home for 6 months now.

Silvia says she feels happy having this new house. The couple want to finish paying for the home and then will make changes to add an extra room.

Of the volunteers who came Silvia remembers them. One of her favorite observations was that a fellow Guatemalan was among the group of volunteers, something she’d personally never seen before and it was a point of great excitement to see someone from her community actively involved in volunteer service. “It really is special that this group of so many came to lend their hands and help our family build our home, we are so grateful and will never forget them.”

Mayra, Norberto and their two daughters, Stephanie (9) and Juana (4) live in the town of Cantel, Quetzaltenango. Norberto is a breadmaker at a local panaderia and Mayra is a homemaker.

Their prior house had only one room for the family of four. Now they have more space for the whole family, which now includes 3 dogs and 4 kittens. Mayra’s younger sister, Iránel (18) now also lives with the family while she is in college nearby studying graphic design. The artistic talent definitely runs in the family, Stephanie and Juana also love to draw, and Mayra and Norberto encourage both girls in this. As part of decorating their shared room, the couple allowed them to draw a piece of artwork on the wall. What resulted was a beautiful butterfly that the girls completed together that is telling of the girl’s budding artistic ability.

More than the family’s ability to personalize the home, what they like best is  having more space and more privacy. Mayra says she also likes the windows and natural light that make the house beautiful and bright. In the future, the couple would like to put up a fence.

Of the volunteers, Mayra remembers that they were always smiling, very hardworking and creative.” We are so grateful for you and for your help”