by Betty Michelozzi
In June, 2007 another IF/Habitat workgroup traveled to Guatemala. Richard and Diane Klein had raised $6000 through IF for Habitat for Humanity Guatemala to buy land. Then they recruited a group of friends to travel with them to the beautiful lake village of San Juan La Laguna. There the group would be helping twenty families who lost everything in Hurricane Stan to build their new Habitat homes in a new location. They worked like beavers: moving huge amounts of dirt, sifting sand, mixing cement, pouring concrete floors, pulling electric wires through conduits, installing simple wood ceilings, and bonding warmly with the families-especially the children.
We had brought song sheets along to teach the workgroup "De Colores" to be sung at the farewell celebration. The children drifted over and soon began to sing with us. We launched into "O Mi Burro" which delighted them with its gestures and the repeated "Move your little feet!" We asked them to sing something. They immediately began a Spanish version, then a Mayan version of "This is the Day the Lord Hath Made." Suddenly we heard their little Mayan mouths chanting, "Dees ees de day. . . !" "Where did you learn that English?" "From the pastor at church," they chorused. From that day on they greeted us with a plea for another songfest.
After the workweek, the group visited projects such as Common Hope and Hermano Pedro Hospital in Antigua. The famous hospital permanently houses and cares for some of the poorest and most disabled persons in Guatemala. IF is sponsoring a Habitat project of six homes for the hospital on land recently purchased.
We also visited IF's very first project of twenty-two homes in Petapa after several years away. We found most families stabilized and flourishing, getting older, new children, houses with second stories added, small businesses going full tilt such as in-house convenience stores, a tortilla-making enterprise, and a vegetable stand. One young woman is now employed full-time by Common Hope to tutor two groups of children in a lovely little two-room "school."
We met with Habitat Guatemala's Executive Director and the President of the National Board. They looked puzzled when asked if many fathers of families who received Habitat homes in Guatemala migrated. "Why would they?" they asked. It seems so obvious that a local economy will be stable when built on home ownership with a place for small businesses, jobs in the community, and education for the children. The message: Build houses, not walls to ease the immigration flow to the U.S. Support sustainable local economies. With Habitat house number 25,000 soon to be dedicated, Habitat Guatemala is doing just that with IF playing a part in the effort.
Some group members also attended a moving dedication of "Colonia Eberhard"-a development of twenty Habitat homes so named for one of IF's most generous donors to Habitat Guatemala. IF had provided the funds to purchase the land. It was a delight to return to visit the site which another IF workgroup had helped to start and to see all twenty homes completed. To the tune of lively marimba music, we were proudly invited into the various homes. Surprise: one home already had a tidy little store set up in the front room!
New homeowner Ana De Mendoza tearfully told us her story. "I married at sixteen. I did household work, often ironing until three in the morning. I lived in a one room, dirt-floor shack. Rain came in. I had no shoes. We were so poor." Weeping, Ana continued, "Now here, I touch the solid walls of my house with floor and roof so strong. I work hard sewing in Guatemala City. I leave at four in the morning, returning home at eight in the evening. My older son who is sixteen takes care of the two little boys, watching over them and cooking for them while I am at work. I am so grateful that I and my three sons have a clean, dry, safe place to live!
"Never stop helping; keep God in your heart. I give you a blessing!" A powerful message hard to ignore, echoed by others along the way as well!