THE GUATEMALA DREAM PROJECT

Alta Verapaz & Baja Verapaz

April - June 2012

the families from Alta Verapaz - Ángel Federico Cum Cucul - Clara Elizabeth Pop Morales - Emilio Juan Carlos Cal Lem - Herlinda Caal Maquín - Haydeen Nineth Guillermo Ruano - Josefina Mejía Ico

- Laura Patricia Moran Lem - Lidia Nataly Morales

- Martha Alicia Galvez Quim - Marvin Joel López - Norma Isabel Balcarcel García

the families from Baja Verapaz

- Alda María Morente - Ángel Joel Álvarez López - Carlos Enrique Pérez García - José Félix García de La Cruz

- Juan Leonel Reyes García - Manuel de Jesús Reyes García - Pedro García de La Cruz - Telma Ileana López Cordova - Soleded del Rosario Jacinto Hernández

Welcome to the latest edition of Habitat for Humanity’s The Guatemala Dream Project. This quarter we visited eleven families in Alta Verapaz and nine in Baja Verapaz. As always, we have highlighted five of the families from each department.

In 1992, Habitat for Humanity Guatemala esta-blished an office in Alta Verapaz and has been

busy there ever since. To date, we have provided 5,560 housing solutions there, including 69 in the last quarter.

The office in Baja Verapaz was established in 1997 providing families with 4,522 housing solutions thus far, including 47 last quarter.

We are also very excited to announce that in August we will be returning to Baja Verapaz for a very special The Guate-mala Dream Project occasion. Irv Hall, The GDP’s founder and long-time Habitat supporter, will be bringing a team of volunteers from the USA to help build homes there. It will be a great event, and we’re really looking forward to it.

In conclusion, we would like to say thank you on behalf of Habitat for Humanity Guatemala and all the families who benefit from your wonderful support.

Jamil Barton International Donor Relations Manager

Cover Photo: Brenda

and her daughter,

Máydomi, in their

new Habitat home

the Laura Patricia Moran Lem family

Laura (27), José (31), and Yuri (6) had been in their new Habitat home for only fifteen days when we paid them a visit. Laura is a first grade teacher and José works in an office providing loans to farmers.

Previously, they were living at Laura’s parents’ home. Twelve people were sharing this three-bedroom home. Laura says, “The house lacked privacy and personal

space, and everyone would be touching our things.”

They had thought about having their own home for over four years but were not sure how to go about it. As Laura puts it, “Building with a bank would have

been impossible.” Laura has a cousin who was building with Habitat for Human-ity and she suggested that they also contact our organization. After getting through the paper-work, construction took just twenty-five days. Laura’s brother and her brother-in-law helped on the build.

The new house sits right next to her parents’ home on land given to them by her parents. It has two bedrooms, a living room, and a

kitchen. Her parents also gave them a tile floor which they installed throughout the home, and they have already hung many framed family photos. Laura still cooks in her parents’ kitchen, but they are saving up to buy their own gas stove. Regardless, Laura says that her life has changed tremendously with the new home. “Our life now is so much more comfort-

able and more peaceful. There is more space

and I have a place to grade homework.”

“First of all, thanks [Habitat] for the great help. It would have almost been impossible to build a home with our own money, but with Habi-

tat we could do it. We are very happy having our own place.”

the Norma Isabel Balcarcel García family

Norma (36) lives in her new Habitat home with her husband, Rogelio (65), and her children, Franklin (16) and Carolina (9). Norma’s nephew, his wife, and their son, Ángel, are also living with her in the new house. Norma owns a small business pro-ducing and selling dairy products and Rogelio is a farmer.

the Haydeen Nineth Guillermo Ruano family

For ten years, Norma was living in Rogelio’s house, where his adult children were also living. She says, “I was just living there. It never felt like home.” Norma did not feel like she had freedom to live as she wished, and she worried that one day they may ask her and her children to leave.

After purchasing her own piece of land, Norma knew to build with Habitat because her mother has owned a Habitat home for over twelve years–it is one of the first Habitat homes in their area. “Habitat was easy,” ex-plains Norma. “The application process took

one month and was not complicated.” Con-struction on the home took around one month.

The new Habitat house has two bedrooms and a large kitchen/dining/living area. Norma loves having her own home. “Everything has changed so much,” she says. “It is great. I can make any decision I want and do not

have to worry about anyone going to kick us out.”

“Many people need help and don’t have the ability to [own a home] without assistance. This is a won-derful help because it costs a lot to have a house, but with the accessibility you gave us we could build a home. Thank God I now have a home.”

Haydeen (31) and Cristian (27) live outside of Coban, Alta Verapaz. Haydeen is hap-pily expecting their first child and Cristian earns a living sell-ing wood wholesale.

When they got married, the couple was first renting a one-room apartment that was small and cold. Haydeen says that she often got sick. Also, there were many restrictions when living there. But the one that was especially troubling was that they could not have pets. She had to leave her three dogs behind at her parents’ home.

“Thank you for the opportunity you gave us and the other families that benefit from this project. Our dream really became a reality.”

the Herlinda Caal Maquín family

After becoming pregnant, they moved to Haydeen’s parents’ house. Everyone soon realized that the couple needed their own space. So, her parents gave them a small piece of land to build a house. Haydeen says that she asked at a traditional bank about securing a con-struction loan but “the bank’s high in-terest and requirements would have

made our debt very large.” They then learned about Habitat from a friend. For

Haydeen, the application process with Habitat was “very easy” and took just fif-teen days. Their house was built in one month.

The new Habitat home has two bedrooms, a kitchen and a living room. Haydeen feels that with a new home her life has changed a lot. “It’s ours. We can do what

we want and no one will be able to tell us to leave,” she says. They have already added some personal touches to their home like painting the living room and til-ing the bar in the kitchen. Her dogs also seem to be delighted with the new home and never stray far from Haydeen’s side.

For over ten years, Herlinda (47) was renting a one-bedroom house in Purulha, where she lived with her two children, Manuel (11) and Maybelin (7). Herlinda says, “The house was fine, but it was

not mine. The kids are growing and I

wanted our own home.” She even bought land three years ago, but never had the opportunity to make homeow-nership a reality.

She has family with a Habitat home and one day, “They told me to go to Habitat

and ask for a loan. It is easier than a bank,” she recalls. This was great advice because in almost no time they were starting construction on her new home. Her-linda and Manuel even lent a hand on the worksite carrying materials and clea-

ning up the debris. “We really enjoyed hel-

ping build our own home,” she says.

Their new Habitat home has two bedrooms, a kitchen and a dining/living room where the kids can also do their homework. “I am glad

to not be paying rent anymore. I am inves-

ting in a future for my children,” she says.

the Lidia Nataly Morales family

For six years, Herlinda has owned and operated a small store selling drinks and snacks in the local mar-ket. Recently, she moved her store directly in front of the new Habitat house. Working close to home, she now has more time with her children.

“I am very happy to have my own house. Thank you.”

Lidia (27), Sergio (30), and their two chil-dren, Joselin (9) and Dostin (3), live in Car-cha outside of Cobán, Alta Verapaz. Lidia has her own small business selling fruit and Sergio works as a machinery supervisor in Petén and comes home four days a month.

For the past eighteen months, they were li-ving at Lidia’s parents’ home. Before that

they had been renting for eight and a half years. Eight people were sharing this four-room, wooden home and the family never felt like they had enough personal space. “To be on our own is better,” says Lidia.

Lidia’s sister built a home with Habitat a few years ago, so as Lidia says, “We

already knew that with Habitat we would be able to afford our own home.” Her father gave them land, and after visiting the office, it took a month to be ready to build. Construction also took just one month. Lidia helped out by carrying buil-ding materials from the road up to the construction site.

The new Habitat home has two bedro-oms, a kitchen and a living room. There is also some yard space where Dostin likes to run around and hone his soccer skills.

Erlinda’s new house and store

the Ángel Joel Álvarez López family

“We really appreciate your help and that you are helping people

in Guatemala.” -Sergio

“This has been a dream because not everyone can have their own

house.” -Lidia

Ángel (23) and Sindy (19) have been hap-pily living in their new Habitat home for only one week. The house is just outside of Salamá, Baja Verapaz. Angel is a mason and built their new home in only twenty days. Sindy is a stay-at-home mom who has her hands full with their two active boys, Ángel Jr. (3) and Jhostin (18 mos.).

After getting married two and a half years ago, the family was living at Ángel’s parents’ house. Including his two brothers, four separate families were sharing this three-room home. There was very little personal space and nowhere for the children to play which, as Sindy puts it, “made things very

complicated” amongst the siblings. This cou-ple really wanted to have their own home.

They learned about Habitat when Ángel hap-pened to be hired as an assistant on another Habitat house build. He liked what he heard about the organization so much that he deci-ded to apply for a home loan himself—along with his two brothers who now also have new Habitat homes. Ángel says that “the process was easy and the materials arrived in less

than a month.”

“Thank you very much for the help. We have very little resources to build. It is very expensive. [Habitat] helps us with so many things.”

the Telma Ileana López Cordova family

The new Habitat home has three rooms: a bedroom, a kitchen/dining area, and a play-room for the boys that one day will be their own bedroom.“It is really comfortable,”

says Sindy. “The kids have more freedom

and they aren’t fighting anymore.” Sounds like a perfect place for this family to grow.

Telma (37) is delighted to have a new Habitat home that she shares with her two children, Kandy (8) and Dimas (2), and her partner, Abel. For more than ten ye-ars, Telma had been renting places to live that always came with problems. “Once

the owners told me [with little warning]

that we had to leave because they were

returning to their house,” says Telma. “Our second place was dangerous and we were robbed several times.”

For several years, Telma had wanted to build her own home but she’d never been able to afford one on her teacher’s salary. This is because her daughter, Kandy, had suffered from severe problems with her legs and most of Telma’s income was

spent on hospital bills. Thankfully, Kandy is in good health now and Tel-ma could focus on impro-ving their living situation.

She had land across the street from where she grew up that her grand-mother had given her. Tel-ma just needed a way to build their dream home. She had seen other houses

in her neighborhood being built by Habitat and inquired at the office. The applica-tion process was easy and it only took fifteen days to build the home. “I am very

pleased and very happy having a new house,” she says. “Life is more enjoya-

ble.”

The home has two bedrooms and a room in the middle used as a living/dining area. They painted the entire interior and exterior of the home white. They also

built a back wall from cement blocks around their property for added security using building techniques that they lear-ned from the Habitat mason.

Additionally, Telma has now become an advocate for our organization. Curren-tly, her goddaughter’s family and her cousin are building new Habitat homes.

the Pedro García de La Cruz family

“I am thankful to Habitat because I have a home. My children too are very happy with the house. Please keep moving forward with your work because

it is benefitting people that do not have many resources.”

Pedro (25) is a single father living for one month in his new Habitat home with his daugh-ter, Melisa (4), in the village San Juan just out-side of Salamá.

Prior to building their home, they were living with Pedro’s parents in the old, adobe home where he grew up. They had one room that was dark and moldy. Melisa often became sick du-ring cold, wet weather. “I wanted a better home

for my daughter,” says Pedro. “I had thought for a while to build a house, but did not know

how to do it.”

One day, he spoke with his cousin who also happens to be the director of Habitat’s local office in Baja Verapaz. Pedro soon discovered that the application process was simple and in just one month construction could begin. Pedro’s brother, who is also a new Habitat home owner, was the mason. Construction took fifteen days.

The new Habitat house has three ro-oms: a bedroom, living room, and a kitchen. It sits right behind his parents’ house and next door to his brother’s. He appreciates having his family close by to help take care of Melisa while he is at work, and they still eat most meals with his parents.

From right to left: Pedro, his

daughter, his neices, and his sister

the Juan Leonel Reyes García family

When we ask Pedro how it feels to have his own home, he says that he is “very pleased knowing

Melisa has a good home.” Melisa, meanwhile, tells us that what she likes best about the new home is “watching TV.” Well, father and daugh-ter have different priorities, but they are both very happy with their new Habitat home.

“Thank you so much for the true assistance you are giving people with economic difficulties. It is wonderful that you are giving to others.”

Juan (34), Greys (34), Walter (13), María (12), and María Guadalupe (7) have built a new Habitat home in the village Los Pinos outside of Salamá. Juan is a farmer, Greys takes care of the home, and the kids are in school.

They used to own an adobe home with a worn out tile roof. For fourteen years, they lived with the leaky roof and thin, uns-table walls that did very little to protect them from the elements. “The kids often got colds,” ex-plains Juan. “We needed a new

house.”

Juan has a cousin who works at Habitat’s local office, so it was a very easy deci-sion to build with our organization. “With Habitat it is very convenient to pay

and more economical. There are not a lot requirements. Banks are so difficult.”

When it was time to build, Juan was the mason and Greys was his main assistant doing tasks like mixing cement and carrying blocks. Their kids chipped in too making it a real family endeavor. They finished their house in just twenty days.

The new home has two bedrooms and a li-ving room. Attached to the front of the house is a large patio where they eat and that Juan built himself. He says that he likes the home because “it is more comfortable” and “safer because we do not have to worry about the

walls collapsing anymore.”

“Thanks to [Habitat] we now have a home. The payments are more econo-mical. The banks charge too much.”

the Alda María Morente family

Alda (35), her two sons, Wilmer (8) and Guillermo (3), her mother, María (65), and her sister, Eva (30), share a new Habitat home in San Miguel Chi-caj. Because of limited economic opportunities, both Alda and Eva must work as live-in housekeep-ers in Guatemala City to support their family. They return to Baja Verapaz on weekends, while María looks after her grandsons during the week.

The new Habitat house is located right next to the old, adobe house where Alda had lived her entire life. The roof was damaged and a lot of water entered the home whenever it rained. This house has just one room that the five of them shared, plus a kitchen. Their bathroom was a plastic tarp outhouse without a roof. “My boys are growing, and I wanted a good home

for them,” says Alda. “I offered to buy the land from my mother, but she said

that she would give it to me for the grandchildren.”

Alda learned about Habitat from her uncle who is a volunteer on our local committee in their village. “He told me that Habitat

helps people who need a house the most,”

says Alda. Once the paperwork was com-pleted, the house took less than three weeks to build.

The new Habitat home has three rooms. Alda and the boys share one bedroom, her mom and sister the other. There is also a common living room and an attached indoor bathroom. The old home is now used for only cooking and storage. The payments for the new home, which Alda shares with her sister, are 300 quetzals (US $38) per month. She never paid for housing before and for Alda this feels like a big change in her life. “We save

little by little every month to be able to pay,” she explains, “but I am so happy

now to have a secure home for my children.”

“It is very good that we were able to apply for a new home. Our life has improved and we are very happy living here.”

For more information about The Guatemala Dream Project, please

contact us at donor@habitatguate.org

To donate to The Guatemala Dream Project, please send checks with

“Guatemala GDP, GT09017” in the memo line to:

Habitat International 121 Habitat Street

Americus, GA 31709

Habitat for Humanity Guatemala builds dreams,

one block at a time