Norma Elizabeth lives with her family in El Chipotón, a community in the department of Chimaltenango. She and her husband, a mason, have three children who are 15, 13, and 7 years old. Her oldest and youngest are in school studying and her middle child works.

When she learned about the opportunity to obtain a smokeless stove for her family from a local Habitat Guatemala volunteer, she knew that it was a good opportunity. Norma did not have a stove and so everyday she cooked her family’s food over a fire on the floor of her kitchen. Not only does this method use significantly more wood, but the smoke bothered her eyes and over time would have led to lung problems.

Norma says: «I save wood now. My eyes are being saved because smoke no longer bothers them. I want to thank Paulina, the local volunteer, and the foreign volunteers who supported me in this opportunity!»

Rosa Lopez lives with her husband, children, mother-in-law Yolanda, and three brothers-in-law in the department of Chimaltenango, Guatemala. Douglas, Rosa’s husband, is a teacher, and his brothers work in agriculture in the surrounding area. When Rosa became pregnant with her youngest son, 5 month old Frank, she and her family decided to partner with Habitat Guatemala to build a new home on their land. Prior to building their new home, they lived in a smaller structure on the same property, but they knew that building a new home would give the new baby and the other children a safe environment in which to grow up.

«We learned about Habitat Guatemala from Doña Emy, the head of the local affiliate.», explains Yolanda. «Frank, the baby, was the reason we decided to build a new home. Over time, we would like to partner with Habitat again to build more rooms onto our new home.» Rosa says: «We have more space now! Our old walls were made of metal and our new house is made of cement blocks so we are much warmer. Overall, we are more comfortable in our new home.»

Yolanda finishes by saying: «It was a beautiful experience to have the volunteers here with us. We enjoyed having them here! Everything is so good and we are happy to have had the support of Habitat.»