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.”

Brenda Leticia, her husband Adalberto along with their two children Mailey (11) and Kaily (6) live in the community of Santa Izabel, Chimaltenango. One year after having her Habitat stove installed by a team of volunteers, we spoke with Brenda to find out what difference her smokeless stove has made for her family. These were her words:
“I’ve lived in this community for 31 years, my whole life. Before I cooked on a “pollo” (an open flame stove) on the ground.” The stove caused me to cough a lot and affected my lungs, now it’s much better because the smoke leaves and goes outside.”

When asked about the difference between her old and her new stove, she says, “the difference is heating– I can heat a lot of things at once—(the new stove) is only one fire but I can cook 4 different things at once—before I had to cook them one at a time.” The stove has three “burners” that allows the singular heat source below to heat the wide surface above.

Maria Carmela and her family have lived in their current home for 40 years. She lives with her husband and four children Leida (23), Erica (22), Neihmer (15) and Brialey (6) in the town of Santa Izabel, Chimaltenango.

Recently, they received a wood-efficient stove through Habitat. Previously they had cooked on an open flame adobe stove. “We suffered a lot of smoke,” says Maria Carmela, “the smoke made me cry and now, it does not.”

When asked about her favorite dish to cook, “pepian” she says. It’s a traditional dish made of tomatoes and various spices. Her children and husband all agree, Maria Carmela’s pepian is the family’s favorite, and the dish wouldn’t be complete without her homemade tortillas. To the group of volunteers, Maria Carmen and her family have this message “A great thank you because we are better off because of it” They are grateful that each volunteer came to demonstrate their support and have made their lives better.