Saul and Olga Galindo and their two children, Axel Javier (7), Adriel Yamilet (2) live in Cuidad Vieja, Antigua. Saul works at a furniture store and Olga works at a farm-to-table restaurant nearby.

“We learned about Habitat through my brother in law.” says Saul. After making the decision to build, Saul couldn’t get the time off from work to be a part of building the home. “I had to work during the week we were building, and Olga was here with the children and the volunteers.” He remembers coming to the build site each day after work and marveling at the progress made by the volunteers, “it was beautiful” he shared.

Their previous home was still in construction while they rented it and the couple shared that it was cold because it was unfinished. “In this house, we are warm inside.” “Our favorite part of everything is it’s well distributed,” says Olga, “each part of the house has its function, and the bedrooms are large enough for the children to sleep, we like having our own rooms as well.”

They spoke highly of their experience with Habitat and with the volunteers. Yes, we remember the volunteers, especially Taco they said! They had  a group photo and shared about their wonderful interactions, “they were very kind to us.” “First, we’d like to say thank you for everything you’ve done, for the help that you gave us, it has helped us a lot and it’s meaningful that you came to give a hand in this way, because it would have been very hard to do all this alone,” they said.

Of their experience with Habitat the couple said, “we love the plans that Habitat have. This house is a cost that we wouldn’t be able to afford. What we love about Habitat is that they help a lot of people in this way.”

Alejandra and Alexander live with their two children Dio (7) and Kimberly (3) in the town of Colonia Santa Isabel, Chimaltenango. They shared that prior to building their house through Habitat, “we lived in a house with 3 families; twelve people in total.” “There, we were in small spaces and we couldn’t do what we wanted because the house wasn’t our own.” With the new change that the new home has brought the children now have a bedroom and as husband and wife, Alejandra and Alexander have a room of their own. “Here we can do what we want, the children have space to run around–we feel very happy with the house.

When asked about any changes they’d like to make to the house the couple shared, “having this house has made us dream–we’d love to add a second storey, add a wall around the house and start a garden but for now, we’re content.”

To the group of volunteers who came, Alejandra and Alexander remarked, “we could not have done this so quickly without them. The process was fast, two months in total, but their visit made things go faster. Thanks for your help to our family”.