Homes for Homeless Families in Guatemala

Mario works as a day laborer picking coffee, fruits and vegetables, whatever is in season at the time. This is very sporadic work and he often finds himself without work for days at a time making it difficult for him to support his family. He and his wife Tomasa share the responsibility of providing for the family. Tomasa sells weavings that she has made to help support her family. She spends many hours weaving each product but earns very little for each one, about Q200 per item. She does not have repeat customers so she often has to go out looking for people to buy her products.

Of the three children in the family, Julia, Mayra and Luis, only Julia goes to school because the other two are still very young. The family lives in a house made out of sheets of metal and corn stalks. There are even parts that are made out of a tent-like material. Because the structure that the family is living in lacks protection from the rain and cold the children often get sick and Mario and Tomasa have little money to pay for their medical expenses.

Mario and Tomasa do not have money to pay for materials to improve their home. As a result the family often gets sick when the weather is bad due to the cold and dampness. Because of this the God’s Child Project helped them by building them a new home so that the family, especially the children, would have a safe and healthy place to live and be protected from the elements so that they would not get sick as often.

The man is originally from the community of Pochuta, Chimaltenango. He comes from a very poor family who, unfortunately, abandoned him because they didn´t have the means to take care of him. He had 12 siblings and hasn´t heard anything from any of them since.

The problems that occurred in his life started during the civil war in the 70´s. Because he wandered the streets looking for food or just to pass the time he was forced into the army. He was 12 years old at the time. While in the army the young boy took part in many confrontations with the guerillas. After 10 years of service, in a confrontation a grenade exploded close to his fellow combatants killing them and injuring his left leg. Unfortunately the injury was quite severe and they had to amputate his leg.

Since he had been abandoned he had no one to help him during his recovery and continued to live on the streets. He worked sporadically but it was very difficult for him because of the amputation so he mostly worked selling fruits and vegetables or as a sales clerk. He turned to alcohol to escape his problems thinking that he no longer had a reason to live.

For many years he drank too much and could no longer hold a job so he roamed the streets and didn´t have anywhere to stay. A few years ago he learned about the homeless shelter Santa Madre, which is part of the God´s Child Project, from other homeless people. He began to stay at the shelter often and thanks to the talks that they give there he decided to admit himself to a rehabilitation program for alcoholics. Because of this help he has been able to work in the market in Antigua to earn money and make a better future for himself.