Santos Tuy Ajú

“We wanted to build a new stove because of the smoke. It made us cough, and we had to go to the doctor in Sololá, which is 45 minutes away from here. Sometimes, we went, sometimes we didn’t. Sometimes, they would have medicine, sometimes, no. Sometimes, the children suffered from the smoke, and sometimes, they burned themselves.”

Santos Tuy Ajú tells her story carefully in Kaqchikel, a local Mayan dialect spoken in the Sololá department of Guatemala. Her confident posture and calm, clear voice are all indicative of the community leader that she is.

Even her family is entranced. Her two younger children, four-year-old Ivan, and seven-year-old Maura, both linger next to their stove to listen to her speak.  “What I like most about this stove,” she explains, “is that all the smoke is gone. When I light it, my work is done for me, and I can feed my family.”
Santos and her family of ten live tucked between the dense forests and hills of Sololá. Their resources are limited, especially when finding firewood to warm themselves. “We buy wood, but when it gets too expensive, we have to search for it. When we buy wood, we used up a bundle in fifteen days, and it cost us 300 Quetzales ($41.00),” Santos remarks. “Now, it lasts longer with the new stove, and whatever money we save, we use to buy clothes for our kids, plus more materials that will let them be successful in their studies.”

Through a friend, Santos came to learn about Habitat Guatemala’s Healthy Home Kit programming, which provided resources for families like hers. Santos became determined to get her entire community on board, and got in contact with the local affiliate. “We asked so many questions, because that was really important to us,” she describes. “Twenty-seven families have been supported through this project, and we are so grateful for it.”

As for the group of volunteers that assisted Santos with building her stove, she speaks of them with love. “The group that came spent a day constructing it with us. I remember them clearly. Together, we shared peaches, and corn. Our family taught them all about the corn, how to eat it, and how to make tortillas from it.” Santos then laughs. “I remember taking all the photos. We kept all of them.”

She remains grateful to their work and efforts. “May God bless you, thank you so much for coming here to support families in the community,” she says. “I hope that you continue to help families like ours, for many of them still need it. I hope that you remember us, and everything that you have done.”

Juliana Palaj Cumes

A group of neighborhood women gather around Juliana Palaj Cumes’s smokeless stove to circulate the daily gossip. Chattering in Kachikel, the women giggle at one another’s news between bites of tortillas and beans. This same collective of women helped Juliana become an owner of the very stove that they sit around.  “We came to know Habitat when doña Santos, the community leader, came to us to tell me about the projects started by Habitat Guatemala,” Juliana says. “She began a system of support in our community.”

Juliana is pleased with how everything turned out. “I like the new stove more because it saves us so much wood. We can cook lunch without having smoke everywhere.” She points to the ceiling, where long tendrils of ash still hang above her head, a reminder of what once was.

Before building her new stove, Juliana recalls experiencing great difficulties with cooking. “I used on an old stove for fifteen years. It wasted a lot of wood and produced too much smoke.” She forms tortillas as she speaks, pressing the mass of corn in her palms. “The smoke would fill up the kitchen, which bothered our eyes and caused us to cough. We went to a health center once in awhile, but when they didn’t have medicine, there was nothing that we could do, which left us sick.”

Under her elbow, Juliana’s youngest son, three-year-old Romeo, sips quietly on his atol corn drink. He shifts closer to seek the warmth of the stove. “The old stove gave me so many problems, and it used to burn me when the wood fell out of it,” she reveals.

Thankfully, the new smokeless stove has saved Juliana’s family from health problems. Furthermore, collectively, they have more time and energy than before. “With the extra time we save, my husband and children may work a bit more to earn more money for us,” she says. “Before, we used so much wood that they would return after work and realize everything that they had found a few days before had been used up. We’d say ‘where are we going to find more wood for all of us?’”

Juliana remembers building her stove with great fondness. “The construction of the stove took about half a day. My children cut the blocks beforehand. And I remember the group of volunteers still,” she beams at the memory. “I have a photo of them in my bedroom. They may always come back and are always welcome. They were so friendly, wonderful.”

Her message for them? “One day, we will meet one another once again. On behalf of my family, thank you very much for the work that you came to build the stove. The stove has made an enormous difference, thank you so much.”

Abelina Roquel Tuy

“I like everything about the new stove,” exclaims Abelina Roquel Tuy. “I haven’t had any more health problems.”

Abelina can be found in the yard of her home, waving and directing her children with one hand and weaving elaborate textiles with the other. She speaks rapidly in Kaqchikel, a Mayan dialect, and her face glows with eagerness. “I thank God for the projects Habitat for Humanity Guatemala has brought to us, for all of the work that they have come to do. That has made all of the difference in how I cook.”

Asking how her new smokeless stove was built, Abelina Roquel Tuy’s face breaks out into a grin. “My children helped cut fifty blocks in one day,” she boasts proudly. “I still remember the group that came to help, they brought many blessings with them. They worked so hard when they came to help us. Each time I light this stove, I think of them.”

Abelina, her husband, José, and their five children reside in a community neighboring la Cuchilla, a turnoff that heads into the department of Sololá. Decades of living in the area has allowed them to develop strong relationships with their neighbors. Those neighbors were the ones who suggested a smokeless stove to Abelina, who for decades, had been cooking with a defunct stove. “Our old stove was made from two blocks and a few bars of iron, nothing more,” Abelina describe. “We used this way for thirty years.”

However, her neighbors had a solution, “Thanks to another woman living in the community, who had worked extensively with promoters for Habitat for Humanity Guatemala, she told me about their projects and asked if I wanted to participate, particularly with the smokeless stove,” she recalls. “That was five months ago.”

The stove also caused several problems. “The smoke was difficult for us. We had headaches, and the smoke made us cough,” she describes. “Now, we’re not affected by anything.” Abelina says that she was concerned, above all, for the wellbeing of her children. “They used to suffer so much, and I had to buy them expensive medicine. My food would come out smoky, and my children refused to eat it, because the smell was so strong.” However, that has since changed. “Now, they eat everything,” she laughs.

Fuel has become more efficient for Abelina and her family. Living in a remote area can be difficult at times. “We usually buy wood, although on occasion, we’ll burn corn stalks from the fields. Before, half of a bundle of wood lasted a week, and it cost us 100Q ($13.00),” says Abelina.

However, the smokeless stove consumes less, and it has allowed Abelina to save a significant “Now, it’s half of that. We spend 50Q a week, although now, we can also just buy pieces for 1Q each, and that lasts us a week. We can buy extra food with what we save.”

Marcela Guit Roquel

“We got along well and had a lot in common. We wanted to communicate, but we didn’t speak the same language. But it was good, because we were able to share moments where we connected together here on the patio. I loved their spirit.”

On a damp and overcast day, Marcela Guit Roquel tells anecdotes while warming herself by her new Habitat for Humanity Guatemala smokeless stove. A small puppy curls up under her seat, its eyes reflecting the orange light of the coals. The people that she describes are the group of international volunteers, who helped her build the new stove.   “It took a day to construct,” she says. “The group, they are great people. I still have photos of them on my phone that I took of them.”

Marcela expresses how sitting by her stove is a new luxury, one that she had never known before. “I was cooking the ground,” she recollects in Kaqchikel, a local Mayan dialect distinctive of Sololá in Guatemala. “I didn’t have a grill, and a lot of smoke leaked out of it. It affected me most with my eyes and burned me because of the heat. I bought medicines in the community, but because of the distance, I couldn’t go a lot.”

The new stove has made all the difference by transforming Marcela’s life, providing her with numerous benefits. “I like that I can cook everything at the same time and that it heats up faster,” she says.  “I also don’t have to look for wood as much. With the extra time, I have greater flexibility in going to market and buying food.”

In conclusion, Marcela expresses that she has nothing but gratitude in her heart. “Thank you. I am very grateful to Habitat, to the volunteers. Thanks to them, I have left all of my problems and the smoke behind. I have no more words to say aside from thank you.”