Maria Elena, her husband, Concepcion, and daughter Allison (6) have lived in their Habitat home for 2 years now. Prior to their Habitat home, they had lived with Maria’s parents for six years. “The difference is here we feel more comfortable and there is more space, it is much better than living in one bedroom,” says Maria Elena. “I feel happy and content to have what we have because we are adding to the home little by little, and it is ours.”

When asked what she likes best about her new house, Maria Elena shares, “the walls, here we feel less heat, it is very cool. I like that the bathroom is inside the house instead of outside. We had to leave to go outside at night. Now there is no danger to use the bathroom.”

When asked what changes the family would like to see, Maria Elena says, “we have plans to make the house bigger and to paint it, but all of that in time.” The family also raises chickens. “I love having the chickens here, with the animals, I feel less alone, because Allison is at school, while my husband is at work, taking care of them gives me something to do,” says Maria Elena. Her husband, Concepcion is a traffic police and Allison is now in the first grade.

Of the group of volunteers, Maria Elena remembers them well. Maria has photos of the group and remembers how kind they were. “They were a big group and came from different states, I am grateful because it was a great help. They helped to put the house up so quickly and they came with so many different skills, and other ways of thinking,» she continues; “the joy, the happiness that they came with has stayed in the house. It was a great joy to meet and know you, I wish you many blessings.»

Bayron Eliseo, his wife, Yolanda and their two children Candice (13) and Christian (9) live in the town of Rabinal, Baja verapaz. For 12 years, they lived in the former house and wanted a new home. Their former house was made of adobe, and was not well built.

The couple is happy to have something of their own and have been in their new Habitat home for 3 months now. «We found Habitat when a man came to volunteer here named Hector and was working. «He told me that he was associated with Habitat and shared with me about the organizations services.» says Bayron.

For Yolanda, her favorite part of the house is:  «todo, everything in this new house is my favorite.» Bayron agrees, «it is the ample space that we have here that I like most about this house, because the other house was so small,» she continues,  «with the new house we feel more at home.» As for plans in the future, the couple plans to paint and face the house. 

Of the volunteers, the couple had this to share: «they were helpful and I enjoyed that they came to work with and to help us,» says Bayron, «I was at work most of the days while Yolanda was with them group. Bayron works as a carpenter and Yolanda creates and decorates ceramic pottery from home, which gives her more flexibility during the days time.

To the group, the couple says, «thank you for coming and working with us, we know you came from far and are so grateful that you came to be of help to us. Even the builders were sad when you left and so were we. Now we have this house and we hope that you will come back and see us again. It was a great experience to be involved in the construction,» says Yolanda, «and now the end result is our own, beautiful, new home!»

Lesly Amparo, her parents, Hugo and Carmen and her 7-month-old daughter, Allison live in Rabinal, Baja Verapaz. Lesly is a police officer, Hugo works on billboards and has experience as a welder while, Carmen is a homemaker.

The family have lived in their Habitat home for a month and a half now and Lesly feels honored to have her family together under  her new home. Lesly, who is a police officer, was at work when we stopped by. We spoke with her parents, Hugo and Carmen about the family’s transition into their new home. The family’s joy is obvious as we met with them!

“First thank you to Habitat for the help that they gave, because for so long we were renting and already having this home is different, and it’s better,» says Hugo.  They have five adult children and wanted a space where everyone could come together. “We have plans to make the house larger, to add two more rooms to have enough space for the whole family,» adds Hugo.

Prior to their Habitat home, “we had been renting for 5 years and even before, we had been renting as well” says Hugo, “we feel happy to have something to call our own.»

When asked about their favorite part of the house, Hugo responds: “My favorite part of the house is how beautiful the house is and how much space there is in each room.” The family is content and remembers well the experience of building the house. To the group of volunteers who came, the family says, “there was so much happiness with the volunteers here, many of them played with Allison.” “She’s so easy going and loved to play with everybody” says Carmen. “Thank you for coming to help build this home for our family, we are happy to have a place to call our own, thank you” says Hugo.