The Martinez Méndez Family
"One has to sacrifice to have a home, but at the same time it is very satisfying".
Ingrid and Eliseo are a young couple, native to the
small town of Guaymango in the department of
Ahuachapán. Like many couples, they began with
little, sharing a small mud-brick home with Ingrid´s
parents. Before long, they had a little boy, Antonio,
so space became more reduced at home. They
came to the decision that, while the income from
Ingrid´s job as a teacher at a public school and from
Eliseo´s as an ambulance driver for the local health
clinic was limited, it was necessary to make the
sacrifice to begin investing in a home of their own.
One day, by chance, Ingrid´s mother, Ana Julia, went
to go visit a cousin and found her in conversation
with a representative of Habitat. Her cousin was
inquiring about a home but not having title to the
land, she could not apply. Ana Julia, on the other
hand, did have title to a piece of property inherited
from an aunt, so she was the one who ended up
soliciting a home for her daughter Ingrid. The family
felt ready to take on this new responsibility as
homeowners.
One team from O´Kane Consultants came to lay the
foundation in February 2015 and a team from Ridley
College came to bring up the walls and paint them in
March. Thanks to both, the work went fast, and the
family became attached to all of the volunteers. “We
are grateful to God for sending them to us and to
them for their willingness to come and help.” Thanks
to the many hands working together, Ingrid and her
family are living comfortably in this new home and
have dreams of adding to it, like extending the roof
into their backyard to create more shade. They are
excited to put in these personal touches to make it
their own!
On behalf of Habitat El Salvador we’d like to thank you for
doing something concrete! Your donation will help give a
hand up to Salvadoran families currently living in substandard
housing. With the support of donors like you, we have served
more than 26,000 families since our founding in 1992.