Ana María Kechel lives with her husband, two daughters, and one son in El Rejón, a town in the department of Chimaltenango, Guatemala. Her husband works in the fields, helping grow produce to send to the United States. This job is the only work available to the people of El Rejón, and is an option during growing season, which is half the year. For these reasons, it is difficult, if not impossible, for families to save money. Ana María explains that her family buys wood because they do not have access to land where they can gather their own. This extra expense is a reason that Habitat Guatemala smokeless stoves, which use wood efficiently, make a financial difference in the lives of those who use them.

Before partnering with Habitat for Humanity Guatemala, Ana María cooked on a stove that she constructed using a small, metal tripod which she stabilized using cinder blocks. She would place her pot on the metal tripod and make a fire underneath the pot. Now that she has a smokeless stove, cooking is easier, faster, and more comfortable. Ana María explains: “I like my stove because once I make the fire, it heats up very quickly. There is a burner where I make tortillas and another for coffee it heats everything up so well! And there is much less smoke now because it gets carried out of the house by the chimney.”

Jacinta María is a single mother of three daughters living in the department of Totonicapan, Guatemala. She and her sister work together as seamstresses. Her oldest daughter is 11, her middle daughter (pictured) is 6, and her youngest is 6 months.

“We lived in a house with family before.”, begins Jacinta. “Our neighbor has a Habitat Guatemala house and that is how I learned about it. I prefer to have my own home, so that’s why I decided to build my own house! I feel very happy about it.

“It was so great to have the volunteers here!”, Jacinta concludes. “They were all so nice.”

Victoria Tian lives with her four children in the department of Sololá, Guatemala. She has four children (15-year-old Alex, 13-year-old María, 7-year-old Freddy, and 5-year-old Francisco). Alex and María help support their family by working on local farms while Freddy and María attend school. In addition to taking care of her family, Victoria also raises and sells chickens.

By partnering with Habitat for Humanity Guatemala, Victoria and her family now have their own smokeless stove, sanitary latrine, and water filter.

“We buy our wood because we can’t get to the mountains from where we live.”, explains Victoria. “My new stove uses significantly less wood.” This is important for Guatemalans like Victoria. For families who live in more urban areas or don’t own land, wood can be a significant expense. Habitat Guatemala smokeless stoves reduces wood use by about 50%.

Victoria continues explaining what she enjoys about her new stove: “It’s much better now; it doesn’t fill my home with smoke! The smoke used to get in my eyes and into my tortillas too.”

Victoria and her family also have positive things to say about their new sanitary latrine and water filter. “Our other latrine was very old. And it was made of plastic as well. So this one is much more comfortable. And before I had a water filter I had to boil water, but my children still had stomach aches.”

When asked about the volunteers, Victoria has positive memories. “They came here, built the stove, and we chatted.”, she says. “My children were happy that the volunteers played with them!”

Magdalena and Manuel Velasquez live in the department of Sololá, Guatemala. In their community, the language that is predominantly spoken is Quiche. Manuel works on a farm locally while Magdelana takes care of their family and makes weavings, which she sells. They also have 5 children: 3 girls and 2 boys. Their oldest child is 18 and their youngest is 3 years old.

“Our old stove was 10 years old.”, shares Manuel. “We got it through another non-profit. Because it was so old, it had deteriorated and filled the kitchen with smoke. With the new stove there is much more space to work. There are no problems with smoke and we save a lot of wood.”

He continues: “I go collect wood in the mountains and I collect a big pile of wood that lasts a week and a half. As for the latrine, I dug the pit myself. It is good that we have the new latrine because we have a big family; now we can use our new latrine and the old one as well!”