For Estela and her three children – Cecilia, Eduardo and Clemente – having their own house was something they believed would be just a dream.

A few years ago, Estela’s husband asked that she leave the home with the children. Estela and her children moved to her parents’ house and the family built a provisional room made with corrugated metal sheets and dirt floor. “It was hard, but I decided that I was not going to let myself down. I had to continue fighting for my children”, Estela mentions.

As an active member of a local committee and volunteer for Habitat Guatemala, Estela had helped many families in her community. Now, it was her turn to receive a helping hand. The Habitat Guatemala staff learned about her story and with the support of our international donors, Calvin and Kathy Hewitt, the Colop family was able to start the construction of their new hybrid house.

Becoming a homeowner is a dream come true for Estela and her children. “I love my house, because I don’t feel cold anymore”, says Clemente. Estela is excited to finally have a place she can decorate and make comfortable for her family. “We are planning to paint the house in the future and also add some flowers”, “I do not have enough words to express my gratitude to you. Now, my children have a safe place to grow up!” – Estela Colop.

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the community of Pulay, Chajul, Quiché, lives the family of Catalina Raymundo. Catalina, her husband Andrés, and their two children have lived in this community for a long time. Andrés works as a taxi driver while Catalina takes care of the children and their home.  

Thanks to the support of Catholic Relief Services, Catalina was a beneficiary from the CLD Project, where Habitat Guatemala is providing assistance to over 500 families in different rural communities with a U’k’ux’já Smokeless Stove. This is a specially designed stove to reduce indoor smoke and protect the environment as it saves on wood consumption. Prior to receiving a new stove, Catalina used to cook…. Catalina used to cook for her family on the floor of her home. “Before my new stove, I was always worried that my children would fall into the fire on the floor”, Catalina says.

Now, the children are much safer. Additionally, she no longer suffers from headaches and eye irritation from cooking over an open flame. The family is also able to save money because they now use half the amount of wood for cooking. Catalina says. “Thanks to God, we feel very happy. We could not be able to afford this type of stove. It’s good to have a little more money because there are always expenses”.  

As part of this project, families also benefited from a water filter. Now, rather than buying or boiling water, the kids can drink directly from the filter. This improves the health of the family as they no longer need to worry about falling ill from waterborne diseases. Catalina finishes by sending a final message to the donors: “Please receive my greetings and our deepest gratitude for your support. We thank you for this stove and the water filter. It has been of great improvement for our family”. 

 

 

María Candelaria (49), her husband Francisco (54) and their five children, Luis (19), Juana (18), Viviana (15), Adriana (12), and Rosmery (9) have a daily ritual. Together, they will congregate in the kitchen to prepare three meals for their family. For a long while, María says, their cooking equipment was far from ideal. “We used to cook on the floor over an open flame,” she explains.

She cites that the way she cooked before caused many health problems for her family. “Because of the smoke, we were suffering from lung infections, and we always burned ourselves.”

Since Habitat Guatemala volunteers built her new stove, María is thrilled with the results. Excitedly, she explains that, “Now, it is completely different! Our new stove heats our house, do not use many pieces of wood, and most important the smoke goes directly outside my kitchen, I feel very happy”.

A new stove is not the only thing María have benefited from. As part of Habitat Guatemala’s Healthy Home Kit Program, they were also latrine and water filter recipients. María cites that the new latrine is a great improvement. “Our old latrine was in poor conditions, now we have our own privacy, the kids can go by themselves and it is much more comfortable“, she says.

As for water? Since switching to a water filter, María has noticed that her family’s health has measuredly improved. Before, all five of them suffered from daily stomach problems, mainly to using a tinaja, or a large earthenware jug that is commonly used to store liquids in rural areas of Guatemala. María also doesn’t have to boil water anymore and is happy with the facility of using a filter.

When asked about the group that came to build the stove and latrine, María smiles and shares: “I was amazed to see how hard they worked, they share with us their food and were very fun to spend time with! We thank you so much for your support. Tiox! May God bless you and your families for the support that you gave us”.

A new stove is not the only thing Anabela have benefited from. As part of Habitat Guatemala´s Healthy Home Kit Program, they were also latrine and water filter recipients. Anablea cites that the new latrine is a great improvement. “Our old latrine was made of bamboo rods. It didn’t offer a lot of privacy and was farther away from the house,” she says. “The new one is made well. It’s dry, easy to use. There aren’t any problems with smell or with sturdiness.”

As for water? Since switching to a water filter, Anabela has noticed that her family’s health has measuredly improved. Before, all five of them suffered from daily stomach problems, mainly to using a tinaja, or a large earthenware jug that is commonly used to store liquids in rural areas of Guatemala. Anabela also doesn’t have to boil water anymore and is happy with the facility of using a filter.

When asked about the group that came to build the stove and latrine, Anabela face brightens. “We thank you so much for your support. We hope that you continue to help serve families like ours. Thank you.”

 

Celeste’s Sololá home is painted a beautiful white that matches her happiness and that of her family. She and her family moved into their new home a few months ago and they are happy to be settled and stable. 

Celeste’s home is located on a property that belonged to their family for several years, and after renting for over five years they decided it was time to start building a house for their own through Habitat Guatemala.  “Having a house of our own was a dream that seamed too far to achieve, due to financial situations and other expenses that we went through but thanks to God we had the opportunity to build it, when the process started we were very exited to see it, it was like a party for our family!” Celeste mentions.

“We feel blessed, now we have our own space, we are safe here and feel very blessed. Everyone has its own room”, mentions Celeste. The new safer home, has improved their quality of life for Celeste and her family. Now, they do not have to spend more money renting a property while they are investing in their own house. 

The Tzorín family is a very united family. Together they have overcome many obstacles presented to them and during the COVID19 Pandemic they were facing different obstacles, but having a roof of their own was one less problem to worry about. When asked what is her favorite part of the house, she answers: “I like everything in my house, I feel satisfied with it, everytime I welcome my relatives they compliment the house and say it is very pretty. So yes, I feel very happy with it”. In the future, the family is planning to plastering the walls and add a second level.

Celeste’s house is built next to her mom’s house, Pantaleona. They built both houses at the same time! “My mom had always dreamed of building his own house too, so we decided it was a good idea to build our houses together and support each other”. Now, both of them have two beautiful houses and a safe space for their family!

When she talks about the volunteers who spent a week working on her home, she remembers that they assisted by transporting the materials to the building site, they were very active and joyful! –her house is set back from the road–and she has a message to share, too.”We want to thank all the volunteers for their support in building our houses. We keep very nice memories of them! They were part of this dream and now it is a reality.  May God bless you and your families. Now they can see their effort, sweat and support represented in the finished houses.”