Sarita lives with her husband, Alvaro, their two girls Tania (11), María (7) and Alvaro’s mother in the community of El Rajón, Chimaltenango. While Sara takes care of the girls and house chores, Alvaro works in the fields to make a living.

Before partnering with Habitat Guatemala to receive their smokeless stove, Sara used to cook over an open flame, causing her to have irritation in her eyes and respiratory diseases due to the smoke. “Now the smoke goes outside, it is no longer inside our kitchen,” says Sara.

Sara explains how she feels with her new stove: “I feel happy, now the smoke is no longer inside my kitchen, I just have to light the wood and it keeps burning by itself,” she continues, “I am saving a lot of wood too, because it is big enough for me to cook all my meals at the same time.”

She finishes by sharing a message to the volunteers: “Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your support, May God continue giving you strength to keep on helping people in need.”

Américo lives with his wife María Esperanza, and their three children, Karla (17), Erick (15) and José (11) in their new Habitat home in San Pedro las Huertas, Sacatepéquez. Américo is a tailor and Esperanza works as a nanny, while all the kids are studying!

Before partnering with Habitat Guatemala the family used to live in an old house that was built half with blocks and half wood, their family of five living in just two rooms. Their prime motivation to build a new home was for everybody to have their own space, “This house is not for me, it is for my children,” says Américo. He explains that after learning about Habitat and attending the trainings they finally decided to invest in their own home!

When asked about how they feel with their new home, Américo smiles, and responds, ” We are very happy, especially my kids, the house is really pretty!”

As a family, they enjoy spending time together, having lunch and watching movies too! “We have more comfort now, everybody has their own room,” says Américo.

When asked about the week of construction with the volunteers, Américo and the children start smiling and sharing some of their memories of that time that they spent together,“It was a great week! They were really strong and fun. They helped us a lot, carrying all the materials inside,” he continues, “we are very grateful for their support, may God bless them.”

María Lucía lives with her husband Ezequiel and their children, José Luis, Ezequiel, Joselyn, Debbie, Selina, Jazmin, Eber and 7 more relatives in a small community in Chimaltenango. While Ezequiel works in agriculture, María takes care of their big family.

Before partnering with Habitat Guatemala to receive her smokeless stove, María used to cook on an old stove. The stove was 10 years old and was in bad shape,  it had cracks, causing the smoke to stay inside the house.

María Lucia explains how she feels with the new stove: “I feel content with it, no more smoke inside my eyes now! She continues, “it is big and gives me enough space to cook all my meals at the same time.”

She finishes by sharing a message to the volunteers: “May God bless you all, thank you for your support.”

Doña Lucky lives with her husband Paulino and their three children, Moises (20), Genesis (11) and Carlos (6), in a small community in Chimaltenango, Guatemala. While Lucky takes care of the children, Paulino works in agriculture to make a living.

Before receiving a smokeless stove, Lucky used to cook on a “pollo”, an open flame stove that they built. “The smoke affected my eyes really bad, also my lungs,” says Lucky.

Lucky feels happy and content with her stove, she says: “It works really well, and has plenty of space to cook my tortillas and the rest of the food all at once,” she continues; “it saves many wood too, now I only use two or three pieces to cook.”

When asked about the day of construction, Lucky explains: “It was a fun day, my children are still missing them!” she continues;  “May all of you receive our greetings, thank you for building my stove.”