Ingrid Lorena

“Thanks to you, our dream is a reality!” So says Ingrid Lorena  to the group of Thrivent volunteers who came to work with her family to build her family’s home in Quetzaltenango.

Ingrid is a stay-at-home mom and her husband, Adolfo, is a baker at a Quetzaltenango bakery. They decided to apply to build a home with Habitat for Humanity Guatemala because they had recently gotten married and had a baby daughter, Victoria. It was important to them that they have their own space as a family.

Ingrid was familiar with Habitat for Humanity because her mother built a Habitat house several years ago and she was excited that she and Manolo were approved to build a house. Ingrid says that, for the most part, the process was smooth. About halfway through the process, they switched from working with one mason to another, but fortunately soon after that a group of Thrivent volunteers came and spent a week working on the house and helped push the process forward.

Soon after moving into their home in November, Ingrid’s brother Manolo moved into the house with her wife Jennifer and their daughter Adonia. Now, the two families share the home together–the babies have their own room and there is plenty of room to relax, cook, and eat. Most of all, Ingrid is happy and grateful that her family has their own home and their own space as a family.

Smokeless Stoves: Maria Carolina Carlel and Aurora Sajic Xon

 

Maria Carolina 

Maria Carolina and her family live near Tecpán in the department of Chimaltenango. She, her husband Martin, and seven of their children live in a sunny house on a quiet dirt road. They own a piece of land that Martin farms, and the children attend school. Maria spends her time weaving and taking care of the home and children–her youngest baby is 11 months old.

Like many rural Guatemalan families, Maria’s family gathers their own wood for cooking. She notes that since their new smokeless stove was finished in June 2017, they only have to gather about half of the amount of wood they did before. She shares that the old stove was 15 years old, had some broken parts, and emitted a great deal of smoke. There was also less space to prepare food and she and her family were at a higher risk of getting burned.

This isn’t an issue with the new smokeless stove: it has a safe area for preparing food, such as the tortillas and tamales that are staple food items. She also uses the stove to cook for her community, such as making beans for her children’s´school.

Maria and her family loved having the volunteers visit them and assist them in building the stove. She remembers that her kids loved playing with them and she sends them a hello from Guatemala!

Aurora Sajic Xon

Aurora Sajic Xon, her husband Optico, and their seven children live in the same area as Maria Carolina Carlel: in a village called Caserio Xetonox, located outside the city of Tecpan in the department of Chimaltenango. Like many Guatemalans, Aurora speaks primarily Kaqchikel, an indigenous language spoken by approximately 5.5% of people in Guatemala. Her relative, Marisol, serves as a translator for Aurora, as she shares how having a smokeless stove has improved the daily life of her family.

Before building the smokeless stove with Habitat for Humanity Guatemala in June 2017, Aurora prepared food for her family on the floor of her home. The smoke from the fire would fill the house with smoke, making it difficult for her young children to breathe. Now, she has a safe space to prepare food and doesn’t have to worry about her children getting burned. Another benefit of the new stove is that it uses much less wood, a scarce resource for Guatemalans.

Aurora fondly remembers the HHK School Group volunteers that worked with her family and sends her thanks from Guatemala!

Brenda Lidia Hi Sipac

Brenda Lidia  is a single mother of an eight year old daughter, Yorleni. They live in Tecpan, a town in the Chimaltenango department of Guatemala, where she works cleaning houses while Yorleni attends school. They moved into their new home in June, built on land given to her by her mother,  and are happy and grateful to have their own space.

Before partnering with Habitat for Humanity Guatemala, Brenda and Yorleni lived in a house with her mother and other relatives. There were many people living in the house and it wasn’t an ideal situation. Brenda’s mother had to sell her home and now is renting, but Brenda worried that one day she and her daughter would be forced to leave the house, so when she learned about Habitat for Humanity from her employer, she decided to move forward in building her own home.

Brenda shares that the process of building her home was difficult, but that she is glad she made it happen. After working all day, she would work on building her home. For her, the most difficult part of the process was transporting the materials to the land, but partnering with Habitat for Humanity Guatemala gave her support throughout the whole process. Though the construction of the house is complete, Brenda has plans to build a covered patio space outside the house and is in the process of finalizing a little kitchen space that will be attached to the house. Because it is her own house, she is truly able to make it her home.

In addition to her job cleaning houses, Brenda spends time on Sunday weaving traditional Guatemalan clothing which she sells at the market. Now that she has her own home, she has a quiet space to create and focus on her craft. Yorleni is also excited about learning how to weave and Brenda is happy to share her skills with her daughter.

Brenda and Yorleni loved having volunteers from Habitat for Humanity Canada come and work with them. She emphasizes that she knows the volunteers came a long way to work on her home and she appreciates the effort they made. She would like to thank them for the time they spent in Guatemala with her and Yorleni.

The Caldeo Family

Dalilia Escobar´s Quetzaltenango home is painted a beautiful blue that matches her happiness and that of her children. She and her family moved into their new home in November, in time to celebrate Christmas, and they are happy to be settled and stable.

Dalilia’s home is located on the same property as her parents´ house, which was also built through partnering with Habitat for Humanity Guatemala twenty-two years ago. By building her house on the same piece of land, the family members are able to see each other easily. Dalia, a stay-at-home mother, is also the primary caregiver for her 97 year old father, so being right next door gives her the space and privacy she needs while also being able to attend to him.Six people total live in the house and while not all of them were home, those that were spoke enthusiastically about the volunteers that spent eight days helping them build their home. Dalia appreciates that the volunteers traveled from so far away to help her family, and she enjoyed chatting with them and sharing time with them.

Anayanci, Dalia’s daughter who loves cooking and would like to be a chef one day, spent the most time with the Thrivent volunteers and has a message she would like to share: “Thanks to you, our house was finished a little bit faster, and it didn’t take as long because you came help. Many thanks for giving us your support!”

 

The Morales Family

The first sound heard when entering Nelson and Dulia Morales’s home is cheering. In their bedroom, the local soccer game is airing on television. After scoring a quick goal, their favored team is in the lead. “It’s nice to be here, and we’re two people, without any worries,” remarks Nelson. “We can invite people over to watch the soccer game and because there is more space, we can cheer for our team as loud as we want!”

Nelson and Dulia have only lived in their Habitat for Humanity Guatemala home for a few weeks, but they have come to experience a fresh new form of freedom. Before building their home, the couple lived with Nelson’s parents for two years. However, the house had problems. “It was older,” recalls Nelson. “There were leaks coming through the roof, which caused problems.”

“It’s necessary to be independent,” adds Dulia. “We didn’t want to rely on in-laws for everything.”

Soon, the two of them began to consult moving options. However, because both Nelson and Dulia are teachers, they were worried about the costs of housing. Luckily, Nelson’s parents suggested Habitat for Humanity Guatemala for its economic flexibility. “We liked how with Habitat, you pay monthly over a long term period of time,” says Nelson. “So we went for more information at the local affiliate and decided to go for it. We wouldn’t have had our new house without Habitat Guatemala, and we’re finally starting a new dream, a new life.”

For three and a half months, the couple worked on the construction of their new home. Each day, after they finished up teaching at the local school, they were present for the building. For one week, a group of international volunteers took part. Nelson and Dulia’s faces light up when they are mentioned. “The group of volunteers came in May,” remembers Dulia. “They were friendly and collaborative. For ten days, they helped us advance on our house. We had contests to see who could build more rebar, and they won.” They laugh.

Both Nelson and Dulia are grateful for the volunteers’ hard work. “The people who came here, they are blessed with all of our hearts. Everything was pleasant and wonderful, they are also in the hearts of my family. I am grateful for the entire team. They entered so graciously, and for that, may God bless them. Wherever they may be, they will also receive our support. If you come back, we will be waiting for you.”

Their new house has been nothing short of a great improvement, and Nelson and Dulia are eager to create new memories. Dulia enjoys that there is more space and that their house is becoming one to call their own. “We plan to paint, to continue with small progressions,” she notes. “We don’t have kids yet, but they’ll be here soon!”

 

Smokeless Stoves: Santos Tuy Ajú and Juliana Palaj Cumes

Santos Tuy Ajú

“We wanted to build a new stove because of the smoke. It made us cough, and we had to go to the doctor in Sololá, which is 45 minutes away from here. Sometimes, we went, sometimes we didn’t. Sometimes, they would have medicine, sometimes, no. Sometimes, the children suffered from the smoke, and sometimes, they burned themselves.”

Santos Tuy Ajú tells her story carefully in Kaqchikel, a local Mayan dialect spoken in the Sololá department of Guatemala. Her confident posture and calm, clear voice are all indicative of the community leader that she is.

Even her family is entranced. Her two younger children, four-year-old Ivan, and seven-year-old Maura, both linger next to their stove to listen to her speak.  “What I like most about this stove,” she explains, “is that all the smoke is gone. When I light it, my work is done for me, and I can feed my family.”
Santos and her family of ten live tucked between the dense forests and hills of Sololá. Their resources are limited, especially when finding firewood to warm themselves. “We buy wood, but when it gets too expensive, we have to search for it. When we buy wood, we used up a bundle in fifteen days, and it cost us 300 Quetzales ($41.00),” Santos remarks. “Now, it lasts longer with the new stove, and whatever money we save, we use to buy clothes for our kids, plus more materials that will let them be successful in their studies.”

Through a friend, Santos came to learn about Habitat Guatemala’s Healthy Home Kit programming, which provided resources for families like hers. Santos became determined to get her entire community on board, and got in contact with the local affiliate. “We asked so many questions, because that was really important to us,” she describes. “Twenty-seven families have been supported through this project, and we are so grateful for it.”

As for the group of volunteers that assisted Santos with building her stove, she speaks of them with love. “The group that came spent a day constructing it with us. I remember them clearly. Together, we shared peaches, and corn. Our family taught them all about the corn, how to eat it, and how to make tortillas from it.” Santos then laughs. “I remember taking all the photos. We kept all of them.”

She remains grateful to their work and efforts. “May God bless you, thank you so much for coming here to support families in the community,” she says. “I hope that you continue to help families like ours, for many of them still need it. I hope that you remember us, and everything that you have done.”


Juliana Palaj Cumes

A group of neighborhood women gather around Juliana Palaj Cumes’s smokeless stove to circulate the daily gossip. Chattering in Kachikel, the women giggle at one another’s news between bites of tortillas and beans. This same collective of women helped Juliana become an owner of the very stove that they sit around.  “We came to know Habitat when doña Santos, the community leader, came to us to tell me about the projects started by Habitat Guatemala,” Juliana says. “She began a system of support in our community.”

Juliana is pleased with how everything turned out. “I like the new stove more because it saves us so much wood. We can cook lunch without having smoke everywhere.” She points to the ceiling, where long tendrils of ash still hang above her head, a reminder of what once was.

Before building her new stove, Juliana recalls experiencing great difficulties with cooking. “I used on an old stove for fifteen years. It wasted a lot of wood and produced too much smoke.” She forms tortillas as she speaks, pressing the mass of corn in her palms. “The smoke would fill up the kitchen, which bothered our eyes and caused us to cough. We went to a health center once in awhile, but when they didn’t have medicine, there was nothing that we could do, which left us sick.”

Under her elbow, Juliana’s youngest son, three-year-old Romeo, sips quietly on his atol corn drink. He shifts closer to seek the warmth of the stove. “The old stove gave me so many problems, and it used to burn me when the wood fell out of it,” she reveals.

Thankfully, the new smokeless stove has saved Juliana’s family from health problems. Furthermore, collectively, they have more time and energy than before. “With the extra time we save, my husband and children may work a bit more to earn more money for us,” she says. “Before, we used so much wood that they would return after work and realize everything that they had found a few days before had been used up. We’d say ‘where are we going to find more wood for all of us?’”

Juliana remembers building her stove with great fondness. “The construction of the stove took about half a day. My children cut the blocks beforehand. And I remember the group of volunteers still,” she beams at the memory. “I have a photo of them in my bedroom. They may always come back and are always welcome. They were so friendly, wonderful.”

Her message for them? “One day, we will meet one another once again. On behalf of my family, thank you very much for the work that you came to build the stove. The stove has made an enormous difference, thank you so much.”

Smokeless Stoves: Catalina Xoquic Cuxulic and Antonia Tuy Tuy

Catalina Xoquic Cuxulic

Catalina Xoquic Cuxulic’s kitchen hugs close to the ground, capable of only fitting two to three people at a time. The Habitat Guatemala volunteers faced some issues with her ceiling, discloses Catalina, laughing.  “They kept hitting their head on the roof!” she exclaims, pointing to the low-hanging beams. “But they were eager to get to know us and build.”

That group of volunteers were determined to assist Catalina. Their mission? To build her a new smokeless stove, which would relieve her of the daily burdens that she faced. “The volunteer group was filled with great people,” she smiles. “Thank you for coming here to help construct the stove. My daughter also uses the stove to cook and support herself. Thank you for sharing this experience with me.”

For years, Catalina had been preparing meals with nothing more than a few cement blocks topped with a precarious iron grill. Without a stable cooking device, both she and her children suffered. “My eyes hurt, I was sick because of the smoke,” she says. “My children were burning themselves all the time. It was awful.”

Catalina went to the doctor for her family’s ailments, but found the experience frustrating. “I went to the doctor about once a month, but I really don’t have time to do so. In the health center, you have to wait hours and hours for medicine.”

Luckily, Catalina discovered a solution through her family. One day, she was visiting a relative in a neighboring community who praised a Habitat Guatemala smokeless stove program that had helped her tremendously. Catalina knew that this path would be a solution; she has never looked back.

“I cut the blocks for the stove together with my family. It took about a day to do,” she says. “Then, the volunteers came.”

For the past six months, Catalina has found joy with her stove. “I like that the new stove uses less wood, that it cooks faster, that I can make tortillas,” she explains. “And I save money. Fifteen days of wood used to cost me 250 Quetzales ($35.00). Now, half of that lasts for a month. And any extra money goes to my children’s education expenses.”

Catalina is filled with gratitude for the experience. “Thank you to Habitat for Humanity Guatemala, thank you for getting in contact with me and thank you, God, for letting them build stoves and giving help with the process, educational classes through it. May you continue your work.”


Antonia Tuy Tuy

One seemingly ordinary day, Antonia Tuy Tuy made a fascinating discovery. “In Consuelos, a community a bit farther down from our own, we were working in the fields with my siblings,” she recalls. “There had been a smokeless stove built there. Through a cousin, we were told that we could work with a volunteer group that would provide us some assistance to build our own, if we were willing to cut the blocks.”

Patiently, Antonia asked a few more questions, took a few mental notes, and then felt committed. If her family members could prepare enough blocks to make a stove, then she would receive help building it from Habitat for Humanity Guatemala. “We work in the fields and don’t earn very much, so this was very important to us,” her daughter, Juana (40), affirms.

The new stove had been a long overdue improvement. “The old stove was about 18-20 years old,” Antonia reveals, slipping into her native Kaqchikel, a Mayan dialect. “The old grill was thick and difficult to cook with. There were a lot of problems with smoke, which made it complicated to work and cook. We had coughs and colds. We would go to the government health center, and we would wait for medicine. If there was none that day, we would have to pay extra money.”

She rubs her palms together as she speaks. “Basically, the old stove was a mess. It burned my arms when I cooked.” She turns her head and contemplates the new device with a loving look. “For that reason, the new stove has been a beautiful invention to us.”

Antonia is happy with how her new stove works. “I like how the stove is thinner, not as bulky. It heats up more, you can make tortillas with it, and multiple people can make all of their tortillas on it throughout the day. We can put a lot of pots on top.” As if in agreement with the stove’s greatness, a small cat perches on the stove, its eyes half closed in slumber.

Antonia also recalls the day that her stove was built with great fondness. “Eight volunteers came to help. They were friendly. We couldn’t communicate well amongst us, but thanks to the help of translators, we chatted a little bit.” She smiles at the memory. “We can’t travel a lot, we haven’t been very many places, but Habitat Guatemala has allowed us to gain more things, and we are grateful for the organization. And as for the volunteers, we are grateful for everything that you have done. We can’t give so much as our thanks. May God bless you for helping and supporting our family.”

Smokeless Stoves: Abelina Roquel Tuy and Marcela Guit Roquel

Abelina Roquel Tuy

“I like everything about the new stove,” exclaims Abelina Roquel Tuy. “I haven’t had any more health problems.”

Abelina can be found in the yard of her home, waving and directing her children with one hand and weaving elaborate textiles with the other. She speaks rapidly in Kaqchikel, a Mayan dialect, and her face glows with eagerness. “I thank God for the projects Habitat for Humanity Guatemala has brought to us, for all of the work that they have come to do. That has made all of the difference in how I cook.”

Asking how her new smokeless stove was built, Abelina Roquel Tuy’s face breaks out into a grin. “My children helped cut fifty blocks in one day,” she boasts proudly. “I still remember the group that came to help, they brought many blessings with them. They worked so hard when they came to help us. Each time I light this stove, I think of them.”

Abelina, her husband, José, and their five children reside in a community neighboring la Cuchilla, a turnoff that heads into the department of Sololá. Decades of living in the area has allowed them to develop strong relationships with their neighbors. Those neighbors were the ones who suggested a smokeless stove to Abelina, who for decades, had been cooking with a defunct stove. “Our old stove was made from two blocks and a few bars of iron, nothing more,” Abelina describe. “We used this way for thirty years.”

However, her neighbors had a solution, “Thanks to another woman living in the community, who had worked extensively with promoters for Habitat for Humanity Guatemala, she told me about their projects and asked if I wanted to participate, particularly with the smokeless stove,” she recalls. “That was five months ago.”

The stove also caused several problems. “The smoke was difficult for us. We had headaches, and the smoke made us cough,” she describes. “Now, we’re not affected by anything.” Abelina says that she was concerned, above all, for the wellbeing of her children. “They used to suffer so much, and I had to buy them expensive medicine. My food would come out smoky, and my children refused to eat it, because the smell was so strong.” However, that has since changed. “Now, they eat everything,” she laughs.

Fuel has become more efficient for Abelina and her family. Living in a remote area can be difficult at times. “We usually buy wood, although on occasion, we’ll burn corn stalks from the fields. Before, half of a bundle of wood lasted a week, and it cost us 100Q ($13.00),” says Abelina.

However, the smokeless stove consumes less, and it has allowed Abelina to save a significant “Now, it’s half of that. We spend 50Q a week, although now, we can also just buy pieces for 1Q each, and that lasts us a week. We can buy extra food with what we save.”


Marcela Guit Roquel

“We got along well and had a lot in common. We wanted to communicate, but we didn’t speak the same language. But it was good, because we were able to share moments where we connected together here on the patio. I loved their spirit.”

On a damp and overcast day, Marcela Guit Roquel tells anecdotes while warming herself by her new Habitat for Humanity Guatemala smokeless stove. A small puppy curls up under her seat, its eyes reflecting the orange light of the coals. The people that she describes are the group of international volunteers, who helped her build the new stove.   “It took a day to construct,” she says. “The group, they are great people. I still have photos of them on my phone that I took of them.”

Marcela expresses how sitting by her stove is a new luxury, one that she had never known before. “I was cooking the ground,” she recollects in Kaqchikel, a local Mayan dialect distinctive of Sololá in Guatemala. “I didn’t have a grill, and a lot of smoke leaked out of it. It affected me most with my eyes and burned me because of the heat. I bought medicines in the community, but because of the distance, I couldn’t go a lot.”

The new stove has made all the difference by transforming Marcela’s life, providing her with numerous benefits. “I like that I can cook everything at the same time and that it heats up faster,” she says.  “I also don’t have to look for wood as much. With the extra time, I have greater flexibility in going to market and buying food.”

In conclusion, Marcela expresses that she has nothing but gratitude in her heart. “Thank you. I am very grateful to Habitat, to the volunteers. Thanks to them, I have left all of my problems and the smoke behind. I have no more words to say aside from thank you.”