Edy and Jennifer live with their son Carlos (1) in the town of Rabinal, Baja Verapaz. The couple have lived in their Habitat home for 3 months now Jennifer is licensed in Translation and currently works as a physical education teacher while she is completing her studies simultaneously in Physical Education. Edy studies Agronomic Engineering and will finish his studies next year.

The couple wanted their own space because they were expecting their first child, and wanted to create a family nuclear unit for themselves, apart from their parent’s homes. ¨Our parents have helped us a lot and we wanted to give the baby stability and a life where we were independent,” says Jennifer.  The couple alternated between the home of Edy’s parents, which had enough space for them, but was far from both their jobs and the university where they study, and the home of Jennifer´s mother, which had limited space, but allowed them a closer proximity to their work and studies.  

Despite, the constant flux of their living situation ¨having the baby on the way became a motivation. says Edy. ´´We spoke with Habitat and were able to do the paperwork in 15 days, the house was built in exactly 40 day afterwards,¨ say Jennifer.

“To have our own home has been a beautiful experience,” says Edy, “It feels beautiful, to see that after my wife and I have lived together in the homes of our parents for the past two years that we now have a stable home.”

When asked about their favorite part of the home, “the kitchen” says Jennifer, “I grew up cooking for my siblings and to this day I love cooking, it’s one of my favorite things to do, so to have the space to do what I love is marvelous,” she continues, “the space we have in the house is also beautiful, we have all our basic needs met here.”

About their future plans for the house: “we have a lot of plans,” says Edy, “first, one of the plans that we have is to finish the yardwork at the entrance.”  The couple is currently putting a wall that will circle the house. “This week, the builders are here putting in the columns and will put up the block wall.”After that, we definitely want plant a garden and some more trees, put a pila outside to wash our clothes and bring the dog home. “I have my dog, but he is at my mother’s home until we can finish putting the fence up,¨ Jennifer shares.

The couple remember very well the group of volunteers who came to build their house with them. “It was a beautiful experience, they were kind, friendly, and they enjoyed interacting with us and with my in-laws. On the last day, they got a piñata, to celebrate and children from all over the neighborhood came—the children were so happy to eat the sweets and meet the group who came from abroad” says Jennifer, “we stay in touch with a few of the volunteers and they will ask from time to time about the progress of the house, it’s nice, we share pictures and are able to catch up; we always check in.”

To the group Edy and Jennifer send this message: “We are incredibly grateful, for how you all helped us from the beginning of this project, we send you many blessings and wish you much success in your projects and everything that you do.”

Mynor and Elizabeth live with their 4-month-old baby boy in the village of Olintepeque, just outside the city of Quetzaltenango. Mynor works for a publicity company in the city, while Elizabeth is a homemaker and sews clothing.

The couple have been in their Habitat home for just over a year now. From the time they entered the affiliate office and completed paperwork, it was only 46 days to the finished product—a home of their own. It’s what anyone wants, to know your family has a roof and something that is ours” says Mynor. “It’s better because when we were renting it was hard having just a room and not much else, the difference is here we have a room, bathroom and a kitchen area. Here, we have fresh air and land space to plant crops.”

The couple have a small garden on the side of the house and a plot of corn to the front of the house and plan to add more flowers and a patio to the front of the house in the future.

They remember the volunteers who visited quite well and shared this message of thanks: “thank you for the help that you came to give us and to collaborate. Thanks to you all, our house is well constructed.” Elizabeth beams that she still has the photos in her phone that were taken of the volunteers and of the construction in process and says she cherishes the memories of the process and the help that the volunteers gave. Now they feel happy to have their own house especially with a newborn.

“Thanks to God, Habitat came into our lives and we were able to build this house because of the help we received.”

Rodolfo, his wife Lydia and their only child, Rodolfo Jr. (8) live in the town of La Esperanza, Quetzaltenango. Rodolfo has been a truck driver for many years, Lydia cleans houses around the community and Rodolfo Jr., who is quite academically gifted is in the 2nd grade in school.

Rodolfo’s sister, Hildy, lives with the family and has her room in the house and the family is anticipating the arrival of Rodolfo’s mother, who will come to live with them soon. The couple realized that the old house was too small for everyone to live comfortably and they felt more than ever a growing need for a new house and the extra space it would bring. The family has been in their new home for seven months now, right on the same plot of land as their old house and are enjoying it.

They have plans to put finishing touches on the house such as doors on each of the rooms and a washtub at the front of the house where they can wash clothes.

“I wanted this house to remodel the other and because my husband would like to have his Mother live with us and the old house was too small for everyone to live comfortably,” says Lydia. Both Lydia and Rodolfo remember the volunteers very well—especially Nick! Lydia remembers that they were very kind, caring and one volunteers in particular loved to dance while she worked! “Thank you for coming and making such a special home for us. We are happy here and we never forget your kindness.”