Doña Lucky lives with her husband Paulino and their three children, Moises (20), Genesis (11) and Carlos (6), in a small community in Chimaltenango, Guatemala. While Lucky takes care of the children, Paulino works in agriculture to make a living.

Before receiving a smokeless stove, Lucky used to cook on a “pollo”, an open flame stove that they built. “The smoke affected my eyes really bad, also my lungs,” says Lucky.

Lucky feels happy and content with her stove, she says: “It works really well, and has plenty of space to cook my tortillas and the rest of the food all at once,” she continues; “it saves many wood too, now I only use two or three pieces to cook.”

When asked about the day of construction, Lucky explains: “It was a fun day, my children are still missing them!” she continues;  “May all of you receive our greetings, thank you for building my stove.”

Paula lives with her husband Martín and their 3 children,  Rigoberto (16),  Elvis (13) and Carla (9) in a small community in San Lucas Toliman, Guatemala. While Martín works in agriculture, Paula waves traditional clothing and takes care of the children.

As part of our Healthy Home Kit, families receive a smokeless stove, a sanitary latrine and a water filter, these products help them improve their health by giving them adequate access to proper sanitation, potable water and a smoke free environment.

Paula shares how implementing a smokeless stove has improved aspects of her family’s daily life: “My new stove is pretty and very useful. There is no more smoke inside my kitchen and my children are not getting sick anymore!” she continues; “I used to cook over an open flame, the smoke gave me headaches and caused my children to get sick.”

Previously, Paola and her family had and old latrine that was in poor conditions. “Our new latrines is prettier!” María exclaims. “It is cleaner, I wash it, it is more private too.”

Regarding their water filter, Paula explains that they used to drink water directly from the sink and save it in pots and pans, but it became more contaminated. “Sometimes I did boil the water, but my children did not like the flavor, which is why they got sick,” she continues; “now they can drink it from the filter and have no problems. No more stomach-aches nor vomits or diarrhea. We are content with all of our products.”

She finishes by sharing a message to the donors; “I am very grateful to you for the support in constructing my products.”

Alejandra (25) lives with her husband José (26) and their three children, Antonio (6) Fernanda (4) and Pablito (2) in their new Habitat home in Olintepeque, Quetzaltenango.  José works as a salesman and Alejandra is a full-time mom.

Before partnering with Habitat Guatemala, the family used to live with Alejandra’s mom and then rented a house for over a year.  One day they were invited to the inauguration of a Habitat house’s friend, and that was when they decided it was time to get a space for their own! “Where we lived before, there was not enough space for my children to play, now they say that they like our house because we have a big garden to play, that is what they enjoy the most, playing outside,” says Alejandra.

When asked regarding how she feels about her home, Alejandra says: “I feel good! there is no better thing in life that to have your own space. In here we can do whatever we want,” she continues, “Our main plan is to finish paying for the house, and as soon as we finish we want to add a second story.”

About the construction week, Alejandra starts laughing and recalls: “we had a great week, it was a beautiful experience, mainly for my kids! The volunteers played with them a lot, Pablito had his first steps during that week,” she continues, “they worked really hard and made a lot of progress.”

Aracely is a single mother of two boys,  Anthony (19) and Rodrigo (10). Due to the lack of job opportunities in Cantel, Quetzaltenango, Aracely and her boys had to move to Guatemala City to live with a relative, but during weekends and holidays they can now come back to their community to enjoy their new Habitat home and a place to call their own.

Doña Celestina (Aracely’s mom) explains how hard it is for her daughter to work and provide her children with education while making a living in Guatemala city. They also travel during weekends and holidays to visit the rest of the family and enjoy quality time in their home.  Before partnering with Habitat Guatemala, they used to live in her parents’ house which did not have enough space for all of them.

Due to all the inconvenience and wishing for a space for her and her children to grow up and have privacy and safety, Aracely decided it was time to invest in a house for their future with the support of Habitat Guatemala.

Aracely’s mom explains how her daughter feels regarding her home; “Now I am happy to have my own house, something to leave to my kids,” In the future, they are planning to add a garden and paint the walls.

Regarding the week of construction with the volunteers, Doña Celestina says; “It was a fun week! They worked really hard, even though it rained, we shared lots of good memories,” she continues, “We are grateful for your support, may God bless you. Remember that the doors of our house are open for you always!”