Jacinta opens the door. She’s in her son Herbert’s new house, hanging out with Herbert’s wife, Yolanda. Yolanda’s whipping up some atol, a traditional corn drink, and something else that smells so good the cats casually roam the kitchen area in hopes for a taste.

“Come on in!” says Jacinta merrily. She explains that Herbert is out giving music lessons as she picks up a music theory book to show off.

Jacinta is a proud mother. She talks about Herbert in a bold voice and wears a confident smile that doesn’t fade quickly. She explains how Herbert got his home.

“He got married, and he wanted his own place,” she says. Herbert had turned in his paperwork for a Habitat home and was approved, given his current housing situation. Herbert and Jacinta were living in a room in Jacinta’s home. They occupied one room, Jacinta and her daughter occupied another, and tienda, or store, occupied the last.

A short time later, a group of volunteers were passing blocks to get the first layers of the house built. Jacinta and Yolanda are really thankful for the help that the volunteers provided, and they hope to see the volunteers again. Their doors are always open.

Yolanda says the house is much more comfortable than when they shared a room in her mother-in-law’s home. The new place has a spacious living room, a nice arched window into the kitchen, and a Habitat Guatemala smokeless stove set up in the corner of the kitchen.

Yolanda and Herbert are more than happy with their new bed, as well. They say it’s very comfortable and it was a really thoughtful wedding gift! “It’s so good!” says Yolanda.

Herbert has set up a little area in the living room for an internet, or a computer to be used publicly for $0.60 per hour. It’s not much, but it’s a nice little way for the couple to make an added income when they’re not using the computer.

Currently in construction is a wall in front of the house for a bit of added privacy and blockage of road noise.

The house is really comfortable. Breeze flows from the front door through the house and out the back door. For the young couple, the house signifies a passage from young adulthood into independence.

“I decided to fight so that I could be independent.”

Some fights require a struggle against another person, other against a government. Agusto’s was against the cycle of poverty.

Agusto and his wife, Valerina, had lived in a little hillside on the outskirts of Momostenango for a long time. The house wasn’t theirs – it belonged to Josefina, Agusto’s mother. The house was made of adobe, an building material made from earth, water, and calcium. It was in a aging condition, as the walls of adobe homes don’t last long if they aren’t covered with cement.

Valerina, Agusto, and Agusto’s mother weren’t the only ones in the home. There were four more family members that shared a total of 2-3 rooms, depending on how you define a “room.” Quarters were cramped, adobe walls that soak up moisture rendered damp air, and the young couple was ready to be independent.

So they turned in their paperwork for a new Habitat Guatemala home. They were approved, and within a few months they were in their new home.

One of the biggest obstacles for a Agusto and his family is the struggle against the cycle of poverty. Agusto had little money saved up for a home, and paying off a big credit is no easy task. The game changer is that Agusto has already managed to drastically improve his living conditions as he invests his money into something that he will be able to claim as his own. Habitat Guatemala provided the opportunity, and Agusto took advantage.

Agusto makes backpacks with a sewing machine that he’s keeping in one of his new rooms. He stitches them together and sells them at the market. The room is full of packs that are ready to be assembled. Recently, he hasn’t had much luck selling the packs, but he’s brainstorming other ways to promote his business. “We’ll see what we can do,” he says.

The home has already made a big impact on the young couple, much more than simply putting a roof over their heads. Josefina, Agusto’s mother, is “happy, because he has his own place now. It’s given him energy to pay it off.”

Remembering the volunteers who helped build his house, Agusto is “thankful. Here, I’m happy. Hopefully someday they will all come back, because they are welcome in my home. Look at these photos!” He showed off all the photos he had from when the volunteers were there.

Agusto’s life has changed, and slowly he is working his way out of poverty by means of an investment through Habitat Guatemala. And for Agusto, that’s invaluable.

 

It’s quiet outside Lidia’s new house.

A couple of cows that smack their lips on the grass in the field in front of her house. The silence is innocently interrupted by bike treads on the gravel road. 14-year-old Angel rides his bike up to the house, expertly over the cement ledge of the patio, and into the doorway.

“It was sad that we were paying rent,” says Angel. He speaks eloquently, much more articulately than most 14-year-olds.

The family was paying for a place in the city of Tecpán. They were renting, and it was causing problems. There was the financial aspect – that the family couldn’t afford to keep paying with no investment. And there was the dignity aspect – the family’s home wasn’t really theirs.

“Better for us to take out a credit with Habitat,” says Angel. He speaks like an expert on the topic.

The family was approved for credit, and before long their home was going up. In early June, the family moved to the new home. As he gives a little house tour, Angel apologizes for the mess. “We’re still moving in, but as I’m in school and my mom is working, it doesn’t give us very much time to get settled in.”

Angel remembers the group of volunteers and wanted to pass along the family’s thanks. “Thanks for all of the effort that you did, the house went up in a short time,” he says. He sends all his greetings on behalf of the family.

The family has plans to put up a wall around the house for added privacy when they get the chance and the funds are flowing. For now, they are getting their possessions arranged in their new home – a place that they can finally call theirs.

Down the road to Cantel, up the road to Estancia, and down a half-paved road, there’s a village called Chiriquiac. Down a gravel road, past the corn and cabbage fields, and down a little dirt path, there’s a brand new house in the tranquility of the countryside.

Irmin Itzep Sacalxot, 28, and his wife Dominga Carmelina Juix Coti, 25, are the happy young owners of the new house. As the couple sits down to talk, Dominga’s dress sparkles under the light of the window. She wears an ornate traditional dress – a sign of her Quiché heritage. Irmin quietly arranges the chairs to make everyone comfortable in his new home.

“Before,” he says, “we were living with Dominga’s mother in her home.” The previous living arrangements weren’t ideal. They were living with the in-laws in an adobe home, a situation that caused the young couple to feel dependent and cramped.

“We were already our own family,” says Irmin. “We wanted to make ourselves independent.”

The couple didn’t have a lot of income. Irmin works as a barista at a small coffee shop in the city of Xela, and Dominga makes beautiful embroideries with her sewing machine to bring in a little extra cash. Either way, the young couple didn’t have the means to be able to pay for an entire house, so Habitat Guatemala was their best option for acquiring their own place.

During the construction of their house, a group of volunteers from Habitat for Humanity of Huron Valley came down to lend a hand. “We are really thankful for their support,” says Irmin. “They did a ton of work. We’re really content here, and we are thankful to God. It is a fortune to have had this support.”

Their contentness in their new house is evident. Everything inside and outside their house is well-arranged and obviously taken care of with proud hands. Finally, the young couple is living the peaceful life they deserve.