Catarina lives with her husband Miguel, and their three children,  María (9), Juan (6), and Andrés (1) in the community of Calanté, Uspantán. Miguel works in agriculture, while Catarina takes care of the children, she is also very involved in the community garden and the greenhouse.

Catarina is part of Habitat Guatemala’s Family Gardens Project that started five years ago in the community. Now, she proudly walks us through the community garden, which is filled with a variety of different vegetables. Catarina shares how their lives have changed and their nutrition has improved.

“Since we started our family garden and also by being part of the community garden. We have learned news ways to harvest different vegetables, most of what we harvest is what we eat it at home.” She continues, “”I feel happy to be a part of this project, as mentioned before, we have learned new techniques to harvest new kinds of vegetables, and different ways to prepare them for my kids, too.”

When asked about what she would like to harvest in the greenhouse, Catarina answers, “We would like to harvest tomatoes, so we do not have to buy them anymore,” she continues, “I believe that with the greenhouse we are going to have a successful tomato harvest. Before, because of the weather, we could not harvest them in our gardens. Now, the idea is to not buy them anymore.”

To the donors, International Seeds Program, Catarina would like to express, “We are very grateful for the donation to build the greenhouse! Thank you for thinking about us, for your support, because not even the mayor has done anything to help us. Thank you!”