Guatemala – April 3-4, 2006

We arrived in Guatemala City relatively late at night and were picked up by Roberto de Ojeda, who is heavily involved with Habitat in Guatemala and also serves on the international board of directors.

The next morning, we enjoyed breakfast and some meeting time with HFH-Guatemala national board president Victor Martinez, other board members and HFH-Guatemala national director Luis Samayoa. They briefed us on the impressive history of Habitat in Guatemala, their country’s need for decent shelter, and the challenges Habitat faces there. Several also spoke personally about what brings them to Habitat for Humanity.

Guatemala is a beautiful, mountainous country with a severe housing deficit: Some 1.6 million housing units are needed in rural and urban areas throughout the country. In addition to the shacks and shanties themselves, land tenure, as in so many cases throughout Central America, is another barrier to the stability and permanence low-income families seek. Because so many poor families set up shelter on land owned by the government or by someone else, they cannot easily secure the tenure they need and thus risk eviction and displacement.

HFH Guatemala: Improving lives through partnership
Since 1979, however, HFH-Guatemala has responded to the housing need—and to the issue of land tenure—with compassion and a firm resolve. Volunteers there have built a full 10 percent of all the Habitat houses in the world and will soon complete their 25,000th Habitat home. (Incidentally, my trip came right on the heels of a trip Habitat World magazine editor Bill Walsh and HFHI photographer Steffan Hacker took to Guatemala. For more in-depth coverage of the housing need and Habitat’s work in Guatemala, check out the June edition of Habitat World either in print or online when it becomes available in a few weeks.)

I also appreciated the opportunity to meet with representatives from the various HFH affiliates throughout the country and to learn more about what they are doing in their local communities to serve families in need of decent housing.

As with any Habitat travel, one of the highlights in Guatemala was a trip to see the work in the field and to meet some of the families who are improving their lives through partnerships with Habitat. For the sake of time and easy access, a Habitat supporter flew us by helicopter to the Zacapa area, where Habitat has built 20 houses already, with another 32 planned. In a nearby community volunteers will soon begin building an additional 80 homes.

The flight offered me a different perspective on the country, the landscape and the natural beauty that stretched out below me. I felt as though I could “read” Guatemala from a broader viewpoint, that I could discern the terrain on a grander scale.

In a similar context, my personal encounters with Habitat families offer me a deeply meaningful and valuable perspective on the hope they find in decent, affordable housing. When I meet them and talk with them and get to know them—the parents, the children, the extended family—I can see beyond the block and cement that give the house form. I gain a sense of how the house will become a home for them, how—from a broader perspective—it will provide a foundation for them, offer them new security, stability, promise and possibility.

This was certainly the case in Zacapa, where I met new homeowner Vicente Oliva and her daughter Vilma Emily Stephanie (her husband, a motorcycle mechanic, was at work) and helped dedicate their home. At the house dedication the community, named the “Garden of God’s Graciousness,” played its own community song. The mayor was present, as were tons of kids who cheerfully joined in the celebration.

Habitat is working with partners here to facilitate the entire community development process. First, there was a need for proper water, electricity and sanitation service. With that infrastructure in place, Habitat has been building houses, assured that the community will be sustainable because those critical services are already in place.

The brand new house that we dedicated was still empty, its concrete floor bare. I thought it a hopeful symbol of the new “slate” on which Vicente and her family can sketch a new life in decent shelter, making a house into a home. They were going to move in that very evening.

Transforming lives and communities

After the house dedication, I met HFH homeowner Domingo Leon. He said he “never imagined it would be possible,” meaning, of course, that he never thought he and his family would have such a solid home. He proudly showed me a picture of his daughter, who was off on a school trip with his wife. Though only in the home for a month, gardens blossomed in both the front and back of his house. I knew that flowers and vegetables weren’t the only things growing here. There was hope in Domingo’s heart, gratitude that his family had escaped the hardships of substandard conditions, a forward glance to what lies ahead. The community certainly felt like the “Garden of God’s Graciousness.”

I saw God’s grace manifest in the confidence of Domingo and other families living on firmer ground through their partnerships with Habitat. I saw that grace flourishing throughout Zacapa. I felt it in the handshake of Domingo and his neighbors, in the smiles of mothers and in the laughter of children. I thought to myself, “This is real. This is God working through Habitat, volunteers serving as Christ’s hands and feet on earth. And at the end of the day, this is what Habitat is all about.” Transformation, both individual and community, is what draws us to Habitat. It’s what God calls us to do in service to “the least of these.”

At every stop during my time in Guatemala, Mexico and the Dominican Republic, I encountered compassionate people serving the needs of others. I have been inspired by their faith, encouraged by their commitment and humbled by the spirit of God and love that flows so freely through communities such as Zacapa.

When we left Guatemala, we ended our trip in San Jose, Costa Rica, home to Habitat for Humanity International’s regional office for Latin America and the Caribbean. I thoroughly enjoyed meeting the staff there who share a strong collective commitment to Habitat’s mission.

Our last day in Costa Rica was spent at a conference of board presidents and national directors from all 21 countries throughout the LAC region. I felt very lucky to participate in this conference, as it presented a perfect opportunity to share Habitat’s worldwide vision going forward. I was pleased to see so many national Habitat organizations aggressively expanding the number of families they are serving.

It was impossible during my time there to visit each of the countries in the LAC area, so, alternatively, I’m grateful for the opportunity that brought representatives from each of those nations to the conference in Costa Rica.

My time in Habitat’s Latin America region was too short, but I am fortunate to have glimpsed the good work that is going on here. I assure you that it is life-changing and that as Habitat grows throughout the region, so too will hope in the hearts of family partners.

The next leg of my tour will take me to Europe in May. I’ll write more from there. In the meantime, thank you for own involvement in this work around the world … and thank you for reading!