Florinda Tax lives in the department of Sololá, Guatemala with her husband and their four children, Brenda (11), Elizabeth (7), Yolanda (6) and Carlos (4). Her husband works in agriculture while Florinda takes care of her home and family. During the day, the three girls go to school and the youngest Carlos stays at home with Florinda. “I used to cook on an old stove with a lot of smoke, but with my new stove I do not suffer anymore. We save a lot of wood too,” she says.

Florinda explains how partnering with Habitat Guatemala to implement a Healthy Home Kit has improve aspects of her family’s daily life: “The water filter has helped us a lot. The water that is delivered by a truck to our house comes dirty, and before we had to boil it. Now, we just pour it in the filter, wait, and it is ready to drink,” continues Florinda: “before, we had to share the latrine of some relatives, but now our latrine is only ours, we have much more privacy and do not have to walk a lot.”

Florinda feels very happy with her kit and sends a message to the volunteers: “Thank you all for your hard work, we shared good memories and you will always be in our hearts!”

María Margarita, her husband Mario, and their son Daniel (4), are now living in their new house in San Lucas Tolimán, Sololá. Before partnering with Habitat Guatemala, María and her family were living between her parents and Mario parents houses. They did not have a permanent place to call home.

They learned about Habitat Guatemala from an aunt, and after her dad gave her a piece of land, they decided it was a great opportunity to finally have a house of their own. “My son kept asking where is my house, Mom?” says María, “that was the moment that pushed us to build our own home.”

The family is decorating their house little by little and have a lot of plans for the future, such as expanding their garden and painting the walls. “I started my little garden it took me an entire morning. My son said that I did a good job,” says María.

“I feel happy with our house. We enjoy time with our son, he likes to play a lot,” reflects María on her home.

To the volunteers, she says: “Thank you for your great and hard work, we made a big progress while you were here.”

“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”.

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.”