Coming Home: June 2010 -- Habitat for Humanity Int'l 1
Coming Home: June 2010
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Photo by Ezra Millstein
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Safe and sound
Just outside their Habitat house in Mixco, Guatemala, Juanita Alvarado holds her 2-year-old grandson, Javier. Since September 2009, Juanita, her daughter Irma and Javier have lived in the Habitat house, which represents a huge improvement over their previous living conditions.
Juanita had worked for years in Guatemala City to save money, little by little, to buy a piece a land. But the house they were able to build on that land was precarious—plastic wrapped around a very simple wood structure, with a rusted tin roof and a dirt floor. Javier was oft en sick with respiratory infections because the house was always damp and humid. Juanita and Irma suffered from chronic bronchitis.
Their Habitat house has changed all of that. “I am so thankful to God and Habitat for giving us this opportunity,” Irma says. “Without the help of Habitat, I would not have been able to give my son a safe home to grow up in.”