Maria Elsy, her husband and their eight children have lived in their current house for the past 21 years in the district of El Duranzo. Recently, Maria received her first smokeless stove as a part Habitat’s housing improvements project.  Before then, she cooked on an outdoor stove, where she was exposed to heavy smoke trapped inside her small kitchen.

The smoke often got in her eyes and throat. What she says she loves most about her new stove, “there’s no smoke!” A chimney funnels the smoke outside of the house allowing Maria to cook, unbothered by the fumes. “We’re happy and content,” she says. Maria Elsy loves to cook traditional dishes but her favorites she says are stewed tomatoes, frijoles and lacha.

To the volunteers who came to her home and helped to build her stove, she says, “I’m grateful that you came. I’m grateful to God for giving you the ability to do this and for giving you the desire to come.”

Estella Ixla and her family of seven live in El Durazno, Chimaltenango. Estella is a homemaker and her husband, Samuel, works in agriculture.

She shares with us the effect that having her smokeless stove has had on her daily life. “Before a lot of wood was wasted but now we actually save wood.” “I can cook a lot at the same time, and I can make my tortillas.” When asked about her favorite meal to prepare she says she loves to cook everything on her new stove because it’s so much quicker. And then she adds “but especially pepian,” a traditional dish made of grilled tomato, onion, cilantro, garlic, vegetables and peppers.

To the group of volunteers, Estella sends this message, “I want to say the them, thank you, for giving us this stove because of your help we are better.”

Doña Esteban is a homemaker and lives in the village of El Rejon Sumpango. Her husband, Macario is a farmer and together they have two sons, Flavio and Anibal. After living in their current home for 33 years, Doña Esteban received her first smokeless stove, thanks to those who came to build, just 8 months ago.

Before her current stove, Doña Esteban cooked on an adobe stove that she used inside her house. The new stove has changed her life because it removes smoke from the house and economizes their wood use. With the stove, she says, her frijoles turn out very beautiful, The stove heats food evenly and cooks the food more quickly.

She learned about the project through Doña Margarita, a community leader within El Rejon Sumpango, and let Doña Esteban her know she had seen the stove that others in her community now had and saw benefit in having a smokeless stove for her own family. “Thanks to her, she connected us to Habitat and in just a few months, the volunteers came to help us build a stove.” “Thank you to everyone who came to give us such a gift, our family life is better now because you came.”

Doña Roselia is proud of the newly constructed home Habitat built for her. She and her husband are guardians to their grandchildren, Manuel (21), Sonia (15) and Jose Manuel (14). Two years ago, the family traveled one hour each way to their current city of Parramos where their grandchildren went go to school.

The family rented and lived in a house much closer to the town for the following year before deciding to build their own house. Their reasons were security and safety. They had lived in an unsafe part of Guatemala’s capital city and decided to move to Parramos. Once they were there, Doña Roselia and her husband wanted to leave their grandchildren with a secure place to live should anything happen to either of them as they age. “And thanks to God, we have a good roof over our heads. What we have now, is our own.” “Here I own my land – thanks to Habitat for opening the doors for our home because here I don’t have to leave, I don’t have to rent. I have my own home.”

When asked about the volunteers Doña Roselia shares, “it was such a happy moment that they came to help us.” “They gave us a very good experience. I care about them and they care about us. They were very hardworking and were very loving—very good people, all of them” Roselia shares.

Roselia also sends her heartfelt thanks, “I send my blessings that if you want to come, the doors to our home are open to you.”