María Esperanza is a single mother of two adorable boys, 5-year-old Paulo and 3-year-old Diego. She owns a shop in Panajachel and before she built her home in San Lucas, she rented a home for her family. When she found affordable land in the San Lucas area, she knew it was a good opportunity to stop renting and build a house, allowing her to save financially and invest in the future of her family.

María explains how owning her own home has improved her life: “Having my home is so different! When I rented a house, we only had two rooms. Now we have more space, I can do what I want with my home, and I don’t have to worry about my boys breaking something in a house that isn’t mine!”

María wants to send a message to the two groups who volunteered to help build her new home: “It was a big help to have the volunteers! I want to say thank you to both groups for their time. It helped speed up the building process so that we could move into the house sooner.”

Ana María and her family live in El Chipotón, a community in the department of Chimaltenango. She and her husband, Moises, have four children. Before financing a new, smokeless stove with Habitat for Humanity Guatemala, Ana María used an old stove that filled her kitchen with smoke and used double the amount of wood. In this area, people do not have access to land where they can gather their own wood, so they have to buy wood for cooking and warmth in the markets. Deforestation is an issue in Guatemala and this affects families like Ana María’s. For this reason, having a stove that uses wood efficiently has made a positive impact in Ana María’s life.

She explains how her new stove has changed the amount of wood she must buy to take care of her family: “We use much less wood now. The same amount of wood that used to last for one month now lasts for two months.” Ana María also shares that her old stove was very small, which made it challenging to cook food for her entire family. “I can cook more food now!”, she shares. “And my tortillas turn out really well.”

Rosa Lopez lives with her husband, children, mother-in-law Yolanda, and three brothers-in-law in the department of Chimaltenango, Guatemala. Douglas, Rosa’s husband, is a teacher, and his brothers work in agriculture in the surrounding area. When Rosa became pregnant with her youngest son, 5 month old Frank, she and her family decided to partner with Habitat Guatemala to build a new home on their land. Prior to building their new home, they lived in a smaller structure on the same property, but they knew that building a new home would give the new baby and the other children a safe environment in which to grow up.

“We learned about Habitat Guatemala from Doña Emy, the head of the local affiliate.”, explains Yolanda. “Frank, the baby, was the reason we decided to build a new home. Over time, we would like to partner with Habitat again to build more rooms onto our new home.” Rosa says: “We have more space now! Our old walls were made of metal and our new house is made of cement blocks so we are much warmer. Overall, we are more comfortable in our new home.”

Yolanda finishes by saying: “It was a beautiful experience to have the volunteers here with us. We enjoyed having them here! Everything is so good and we are happy to have had the support of Habitat.”

Ramona Yaxon  lives in Sololá, Guatemala, with her husband. Her ten children are married and live with their families, so she and her husband live alone in their house. When her children moved out, they moved the kitchen area into a different part of the house so that they would have more room.

“My old stove worked,” explains Ramona, “but over time it deteriorated. It used a lot of wood and filled the kitchen with smoke.”

“My new stove works perfectly!”, Ramona exclaims. “I can use wood, pine cones, or corn hulls and it burns well. While I cook, my husband sits at a table next to the stove and we talk. We are never far apart.”

Sitting outside in the sun, Ramona talks about her life. “We have some land and my husband grows corn that he sells. And I raise ducks! I used to have pigs too, but one day I fell and hurt my knee. My kids told me I was too old to raise pigs anymore. You need a lot of strength for that! I wanted to raise pigs in my courtyard but they said no. So now I just have ducks.”

Ramona is Maya and in her part of Guatemala the language that is spoken is Kaqchikel. Recently, Ramona shares, she has started studying the Bible with two American Jehovah’s Witnesses missionaries who have given her a Bible in her language. “I lived my whole life without religion.”, Ramona explains. “And I am old but I have asked God for a few more years on earth so that I can enjoy my new stove!”