Lilian Quiñonez lives with her husband, Ismael, and their three children, Briseida (12) Daimer (10) and  Milady (6) in their new Habitat home in Valle de las Flores Habitat Housing Community in Escuintla.  Ismael is currently working as a mason, while Lilian is a homemaker and a full time mom.

The Quiñonez family is one of the 41 families who received a fully subsidized Habitat home through the Fuego Volcano Disaster Response project.  The families who have benefited from the project are from the communities of San Miguel los Lotes, Los Barrios and El Rodeo. The Fuego volcano  eruption affected over 1.7 million Guatemalans, leaving many dead and missing, and thousands seeking refuge in temporary shelters.

Eight months have passed since the family moved into their home in Valle de las Flores. When asked about how they feel with their new home, Lilian says; ”It feels really different here. The children can come and go safely. I feel more calm, we have tried to have a different environment as a family now.”

In the future the family is planning to add a fence around the house and a new room for the kids, “I want to add a garden too,” explains Lilian.

The family has many memories about the construction with all of the volunteers and donors that helped them; “We met so many people that we never thought we would meet. It felt really nice to receive all of their support.»

She finishes with a message to all of the donors and volunteers; “I am forever thankful to all of you. Thanks to God we received this house and a safe place for our family. Nobody ever imagined that on the day of the tragedy we would lose everything. Thank you, to everyone that donated to support us.”

“I encourage everyone to continue moving forward and helping those in need without knowing them.” – Lilian Quiñonez.

Simona has lived in her house for 50 years now. “I was married in this house, and all of my children, they were born here. It’s only me in the house now. Three of my sons and their families live here on the same land,” says Simona, her husband passed away 10 years ago.

When asked about her favorite thing to cook she says, “everything, but I love to cook my atol” a traditional hot beverage, on the new stove. Previous to her Habitat stove, “I had a stove similar to this one, it was much bigger, but there was nowhere for the smoke to leave the house. When there was air, the smoke would leave through the window but when there was not air coming inside, the smoke stayed inside with me,» says Simona.

Simona remembers well group of volunteers. “they were kind, very friendly and smiling. There were 6 or 7 of them here in my house, and another part of the group worked on the stove for my daughter-in-law next door!”

She smiles, remembering how she and the group tried to communicate. Despite the language barrier she says, “the experience was a good one. I am very grateful because we talked and chatted and got along well. There was one of the group members who knew some Spanish and did a good job to translate for us. This made the interaction very nice between us.”

To the whole group she sends this message, “thanks for coming to help here, and for everything. I hope that God will bless you and your work wherever you are.”