Queche Yoxon family needs a home!

The Queche Yaxon family was living in a house by the river. As the rainy season has just begun, the family decided to move to avoid a potentially fatal situation.

The grandmother lent the family a place to live, but it is barely a house. The family is currently living on a cement floor with an aluminum roof. There are no walls. They share a small bed with a small mattress. The family of eight is essentially sleeping outside.


Virginia would like to rent a home for her family, but she does not have enough money. Her husband is an alcoholic and gives the family very little money. They rely on the money that Virginia makes, selling food on the street.

We would like to help them rent a real house with walls.

To help the family pay the rent, it will cost U$96 per month.  If you are able to help this family in any way, please go to Donate Now and enter your donation in the "Other" box and write "1045" in the details box, as well as "housing" as the purpose of your donation. 

Thank you so much!

Family loses home and cannot pay rent

Sandra and her family recently lost their house during a heavy rainfall. The house, which they owned, sat on the riverbank and during a recent downpour, the house collapsed into the river. Thankfully everyone in the family is okay, but now the family does not have a home. They found a small place to rent, but all of their money was invested in the house that collapsed. They came to us here at Mayan Families to see if we could help them in any way.

The family consists of mother Sandra, father Gerson, and their two sons, Rodrigo and Sebastian. Gerson works as a tuc-tuc driver and doesn't make much money at all. Sandra is struggling to find as much work as she can. It is evident that with the money they are making, they won't be able to pay for the rent.

The rent of their new house is U$72 per month.  If you are able to help this family in any way, please go to Donate Now and enter your donation in the "Other" box and write "#1094" in the details box, as well as "housing" as the purpose of your donation. Any amount will be of great help!


Thank you!

The Roquel Chocho family need a house!

 

Eight of the eleven members of the family

The Roquel Chocho used to live on a big coffee plantation. There they lived and worked alongside other campesino families. Two years ago the owner of the plantation told the family there was no more work. As well as losing the whole family's source of income, they also lost their home. They found an old and crumbling house to rent that was owned by a family who lived in Guatemala City. The house was in a very poor condition but they were happy to have a roof over their heads.

The Roquel Chocho family's current bathroom

They lived there until a couple of weeks ago when the landlord decided he wanted to move with his family to this land. He needs the Roquel Chocho family to move out so he can demolish the house and build a nicer one for him and his family. The landlord however, realises the extreme poverty of this family and that he was leaving them homeless, so he agreed to lend them a small part of his land where they can live if they build their own house. This was very generous of the landlord and they are very grateful to be able to use a small piece of land to call home. Unfortunately the family has no money whatsoever to buy materials to build their own house. They came to the Mayan Families office to ask for assistance with building materials. 

The father, Jesus, takes whatever work he can, but there often is no work available. His wife is unable to work because she suffers from quite severe stomach ulcers. She is almost always in pain and quite weak because she hardly eats at all. Instead she drinks a drink made from corn when she can. They tried to seek medical care for her but that has just landed them in debt of almost $300, with ongoing interest fees, and she furthermore did not receive the help she needed. Two of their sons, aged 22 and 14 also work when they can and bring in whatever wage they can, but they face the same lack of employment opportunities as their father. Amilcar, another of the children has brain damage and has suffered from various problems throughout his life but they have never had the money to seek specialist care for him, not even to diagnose what he actually suffers from.

The family's current kitchen

We estimate that to build the family of eleven a house with two small rooms and a small kitchen, with a dirt floor, will cost $2560. If you can assist in any way, any donation large or small will go a long way in keeping this struggling family off the street. Please click on donate now and scroll down to the other box and enter FA 96. 

If you would like to organize a team to come to Guatemala and build a house for the family, please email laura@mayanfamilies.org

Maria and Alejandra need a house

Alejandra and Maria in their house

Maria is 78 years old and she is still caring for her daughter full time. Her daughter Alejandra is 44 and suffers from a disease that has been undiagnosed because Maria has never had the money to take her to a specialist doctor. Alejandra was a 'normal', more or less healthy child up until she contracted a fever when she was 8 years old. The fever went on for 3 months and her whole body became red and inflamed. Her mother took her to the doctor who prescribed some medicine. They gave her the medicine and this reduced the inflammation and the redness but after several days on this medication Alejandra starting bleeding from her ears and she started suffering attacks. The fever reduced but Alejandra was never the same again.Since then she needs to be cared for constantly. Her mother dresses her and bathes her and has to endure her attacks. When Alejandra has an 'attack' she punches, kicks and screams, she doesn't remember who anyone is, she gets very agitated and violent. This sometimes happens just once a day, sometimes it happens several times a day.

When Maria's husband was alive, the family was very poor, but they at least had somewhere to live. Since he died 10 years ago, Maria and Alejandra have relied on the kindness of neighbors for accommodation, often squeezing into overcrowded rooms, sleeping on the floor because there are no beds. They only eat when Maria sells some of the clothing that she makes by hand on a belt loom.

Alejandra and Maria's 'kitchen'

Currently, the family is living under a roof, without walls, exposed to the outside. They are in great need of an actual house. To construct a home, the total cost is $U4,500. Every contribution counts. If you can assist this family in any way, please go to the donate now page, scroll down to the other box and enter FA 94, specifying "housing" in details.

If you would like to organize a team to come and construct a house for Maria and Alejandra, please contact laura@mayanfamilies.org.

Thank you for all your support!

Carmen and family unable to access their own land

Carmen and her daughter Juana recently came to us regarding their housing situation. The family is currently renting, but are eager to start building their own home.

Carmen and her daughter Juana

The family purchased a plot of land in 2009 in the town of San Jorge.
When they purchased the land, it did not have access to the road. The owner of the land agreed to allow the family to cross his land in order to access the plot they purchased. He began the process to change the deeds to grant them this permission. However, the deeds were still being processed when the owner of the land suddenly died in an car accident. The agreement that had been made was never completed. Now the children of the owner are demanding $333 to finish the deeds and grant the family access to their own land from the road.

Carmen is the mother of five girls. As she never went to school and never learned Spanish, she doesn't work, instead, staying at home with her two youngest daughters. The husband, Paulino, doesn't have a steady job and relies on temporary work to pay the rent and feed the family. He had planned to start the construction of his own home a while ago, but has been unable to begin due to the current situation. Out of the three older daughters, only one works and has her own family to support. The family does not have enough money to pay for access to the road.

While the family has successfully paid off all the remaining costs of the land, if they do not pay for the access to the road, this land will be essentially useless. 

If you are able to support this family in any way in their efforts to own their own home, please go to the donate now page and enter FA 39-Housing in the other box.

Thank you for all your support.