Healthy Home Kit: Sebastiana Tuy

Sebastiana has lived in her house for 53 years in a small town in Sololá. She is a homemaker, and her husband works in agriculture.

Just recently, the family received a Habitat smokeless stove, made specifically to eliminate the impact of indoor air pollution caused by smoke from cooking fires. Prior to her Habitat stove, Sebastiana cooked on an open fire “pollo”. She says now, “the smoke does not affect me. Now with one fire I put my food to cook and create my nisch tamal and tortillas.”

Now she has time to do other things around the house, like spend time with her two granddaughters, Claudia and Yeimy, both 9 years old, who love spending time at their grandmother’s house.

Sebastian is also content with her new water filter “the taste of the water is different and we don’t worry about drinking dirty water.” The latrine has also made a difference for the family, “the bathroom is what we needed most. We did not have one before. My husband and I would have to use the one at my daughter’s house, but we felt like we were bothering them. It feels good to have our own.”

Sebastiana has a good memory of the volunteers “I’m very happy with the things they have built and left behind with us. Thank you, we are grateful and satisfied with you job you did” she says.