Marcelina lives with her husband Rolando, and their four girls, Sindy (10), Ana (7), Tomasa (4) and Violeta (4 months) in a small community in Sololá.  While Rolando works as a mason, Marcelina takes care of the children and weaves traditional clothes.

“I used to cook over an open flame on the floor; I learned about Habitat Guatemala’s Healthy Home Kit project, talked to my husband and we decided to try it,” explains Marcelina. A few months later, she is happy with the stove. “I feel content. The stove is working great and it does not consume a lot of firewood. It heats up quickly and gives me enough space to cook all of my meals.”

Thanks to Habitat for Humanity Guatemala, Marcelina and her family are no longer affected from issues created by smoke. They used to cough and suffer from irritated eyes. Now, she can cook without any fear that her girls will have health problems. Moreover, because the stove consumes less firewood, Marcelina does not need to buy as many logs as before.

The water filter has also improved the health of her entire family. Marcelina notes that her family no longer suffers from stomach pains. She also has found that the taste of the water is different, but better.

In addition, the latrine has improved living conditions for Marcelina’s family and is now a cleaner, healthier and a more private environment. In part, this is also due to the fact that only Marcelina, her husband, and their girls use it. With the previous latrine, they had to share it with other relatives.

When asked about the group that came to help her family, a smile appears on Marcelina’s face, “I felt very happy about the day we spent with the volunteers, we had a good time.”

Above all, Ruby is grateful to the group of international volunteers that helped build her stove and latrine, “Tiox! (thank you in Kaqchikel) Thank you for your support, your big hearts and for coming to visit us. We are happy with these products. May God bless you.”

Sandra lives with her husband Max, and their three boys Anderson(12), José Antonio (7), and two year old baby Estuardo in a small community in San Lucas Tolimán. While Ronaldo works as a mason, Sandra is a home maker.

As part of our Healthy Home Kit, families receive a smokeless stove, a sanitary latrine and a water filter, these products help them improve their health by giving them adequate access to proper sanitation, potable water and a smoke-free environment.

Sandra shares how implementing a smokeless stove has improved aspects of their family’s daily life: “I had a stove before, but it was in poor condition, it had cracks causing the smoke to be all around my kitchen,” she continues; “my new stove makes me feel proud and content, because it is working very well, there’s no more smoke inside my kitchen!”

Previously, Sandra and her family had to share the same latrine with her mother in law and more relatives.
Regarding their water filter, Sandra explains that they used to drink water directly from the sink. “Now my kids can drink clean water, without getting stomach aches,” says Sandra.

She finishes with a message to the volunteers; “I am grateful to the volunteers that came to help us built our stove and latrine, may God bless you!”

Bertha lives with her husband, Ronaldo, and their children Osmar (18), Juan (17), Nehemías (14), Gisela (11) and Bertha (6) in a small community in San Lucas Tolimán. While Ronaldo works in agriculture, Bertha is a home maker.

As part of our Healthy Home Kit, families receive a smokeless stove, a sanitary latrine and a water filter, these products help them improve their health by giving them adequate access to proper sanitation, potable water and a smoke-free environment.

Bertha shares how implementing a smokeless stove has improved aspects of their family’s daily life, “I had a stove before, but my elder son got married and we decided to leave it with them, so I had to start cooking over an open flame,” she continues, “now, with the new one I feel much better and happy. We can save wood too!”

Previously, Bertha and her family had an old latrine, more than 20 years old, that was in poor condition.  Now the new one is cleaner and more comfortable. Regarding their water filter, Bertha explains that they used to drink water directly from the sink. Now, the kids can come inside and drink it from the filter without any problems, it is fresh and clean with no more bad flavors.

She finishes with a message to the volunteers; “It was a great day! They worked really fast and hard, and we shared lunch together,” she continues; “thank you for your support in building my kit, may God bless you and take good care of you.”

Seferino lives with his wife Aracely and their eight children: Astrid (16), Gerson (14), Heydi (11), Fatima (10), Karla (9), Jorge (6), Jayro (4) and baby Melanie (1), in a small community in Sololá. While Seferino works in agriculture, Aracely owns a tortilla shop, leaving Astrid, their eldest daughter, to help take care of the younger children.

As part of our Healthy Home Kit, families receive a smokeless stove, a sanitary latrine and a water filter, these products help them improve their health by giving them adequate access to proper sanitation, potable water and a smoke-free environment.

Seferino shares how implementing a smokeless stove has improved aspects of their family’s daily life: “My wife used to cook on an old stove for more than ten years that consumed a lot of wood and was old too,” he continues; “ We can see the difference now, because there is no more smoke inside our kitchen, and we no longer use a lot wood, just a few pieces.”

When asked how they feel with their new stove, he answers, “We feel very content! The old stove was very tall, the new one is a little shorter, so we sit around it, it keeps us warm and it has enough space to cook all our meals at the same time.”

We also visited Aracely in her tortilla shop and asked how she feels with their products: “I feel happy! it was of big help for my family to receive the products.”

Previously, Seferino and his family had an old latrine that was in poor conditions. “Our new latrine is better, my children can use it without any problems.”

Regarding their water filter, Seferino explains that they used to drink water directly from the sink and save it in pots, but it became more contaminated. “Sometimes we boiled the water, yes our children used to get diarrhea but we used to give them different traditional medicines to make them feel better, he continues “now our health has improved a lot, our children are no longer sick, all of them take their water bottles to school.”

He finishes by sharing memories about the day of construction and with a message to the volunteers; “It was a very fun day, they came with joy and played with my children!” he continues, “May God bless you all and your families, we are grateful for your support. We always get really happy when we receive visits here!” Aracely adds: “Thank you all, may your lives be filled with blessings.”