Magdalena and Manuel Velasquez live in the department of Sololá, Guatemala. In their community, the language that is predominantly spoken is Quiche. Manuel works on a farm locally while Magdelana takes care of their family and makes weavings, which she sells. They also have 5 children: 3 girls and 2 boys. Their oldest child is 18 and their youngest is 3 years old.

“Our old stove was 10 years old.”, shares Manuel. “We got it through another non-profit. Because it was so old, it had deteriorated and filled the kitchen with smoke. With the new stove there is much more space to work. There are no problems with smoke and we save a lot of wood.”

He continues: “I go collect wood in the mountains and I collect a big pile of wood that lasts a week and a half. As for the latrine, I dug the pit myself. It is good that we have the new latrine because we have a big family; now we can use our new latrine and the old one as well!”

Cristobalina Socon lives with her daughters and husband Carlos in the department of Sololá, Guatemala. While her daughters attend school and Carlos works in agriculture, Cristobalina takes care of her home and family. When she learned about Habitat for Humanity Guatemala, she decided that investing in a Healthy Home Kit would be a good decision for her family.

Cristobalina’s daughters daughters are 10-year-old Lendi and 7-year-old María and because of their family is utilizing the Healthy Home Kit, their overall health has improved. Cristobalina explains: “We didn’t have a water filter before and now, thanks to God, we do. We had to drink water from the spigot and when I had time I would boil it for my daughters to drink. My daughters stomachs almost always hurt.” Because their family is utilizing the Healthy Home Kit, 10-year-old Lendi’s and 7-year-old María’s no longer experience stomach aches regularly. Cristobalina explains: “We didn’t have a water filter before and now, thanks to God, we do. We had to drink water from the spigot and when I had time I would boil it for my daughters to drink. My daughters stomachs almost always hurt.”

“Before we didn’t have a latrine, either. We had to ask other people to share.”, continues Cristobalina. “Now we have a latrine that just the four of us use! And our old stove, well it didn’t work well. It filled our home with smoke. Now my new stove lets me cook really well!”

As for the volunteers who supported her family by constructing the stove and latrine, Cristobalina has happy memories. She ends by saying: “I would like to thank God for their help and for my new stove!”

 

The Zuninga family lives in the department of Sololá, Guatemala and recently partnered with Habitat for Humanity Guatemala to implement a smokeless stove, sanitary latrine, and water filter. Karina, who lives in this home, had taken her baby to the doctor, so her in-laws talked about their experience with the Habitat Guatemala volunteers!

“Before building the smokeless stove, Karina shared my stove.”, explains Karina’s mother-in-law, Nicolasa. “We were cooking for 10 people on one stove so it is very helpful to have another stove now! We were also all sharing one latrine–so it is very beneficial to have another!

Nicolasa concludes with a message to the volunteers who spent time with her family: “Thank you for supporting my family! These changes benefit the children most of all.”

 

Isabel Tzul lives with her husband, Mario, and their four sons–Mario, Abner, Christian, and Daniel–in the department of Totonicapán, Guatemala. While Mario works as a superintendent of the local school and the four boys are in class, Isabel takes care of her families home and weaves traditional clothing which she sells.

“Before building our home on land that I inherited from my father, we lived about fifteen minutes away on the other side of the mountain.”, Isabel explains. “Our house was old and deteriorating. There was also no way to access it by car so we decided to build our new home here. It is much easier to take care of things where we live now. And thanks to God we are comfortable! Our house is not too hot or too cold.”

“Habitat Guatemala has an office in Totonicapán and we had always heard about them, so we went to the office for information about the house designs. It’s nice that Habitat Guatemala does this work! We chose our design because we have four children who are still growing.”, Isabel continues.

Isabel smiles when she talks about the volunteers who traveled to Guatemala for a week to support the mason she and her family hired to build their home. “Truthfully, it was lovely to have them here! We liked how kind they were. We always remember them and the fundamental role they played in building our home. May God bless them! We think of them every time we look at the photo they gave us.”