Xiomara lives with her husband Oscar and their five children: Harold, Axel, Oscar, Angel and Joseph. Sixteen years ago, she used to live in the Atlantic coast before marrying and moving to Estelí; she is thirty-seven years old and works in the tobacco fields, while her husband works as a driver.
Xiomara shared her experience with TECHO and how she felt about the help she received from the young volunteers when building the house.
“TECHO came to my house in 2011 to fill a survey but I got interviewed for the first time until 2013, they passed by and told me they were going to select the beneficiaries and they would let me know after. They saw how we lived here, my old house was made from plastic and half of it from old wood, there was leaking water everywhere whenever it rain and it was so cold at night. You should have seen the ground, it was all mud.
One month later, TECHO confirmed we were the beneficiaries of a new house; when they came back they talked about how the process was going to be, how we had to participate in the workshops and the construction. We had three workshops, we learned about saving systems to be able to save the money we needed to pay for the house. All the beneficiaries learned a lot there, and personally I really liked that experience, because they also made us write down what our main needs were and how we could work towards providing for the family, we came to know we might need a lot but also we could accomplish our goals little by little, we just needed to have hope.
I talked with Oscar when I came back from the workshops, I told him ‘We are working and we need to divide the expenses between us, so we can be organized, everything that I learned in the workshops I taught to my husband, I told him ‘if we don’t learn we will always live like this’, he understood and that’s why we have a better situation. We learned a lot.
For the payment of the house we had to save and lend some money to our friends, but everything went well, we paid all the money like three weeks, after the construction of our house.
I remember well the day of the construction, all the volunteers were from Managua, they are very polite and kind and my husband worked with them; it was a little bit difficult because it was raining, the guys were soaked and when they were digging the holes the rain filled them, but aside from the rain everything was good. I want to tell the volunteers I always remember them and they are always welcomed to my house.
After we got the house we felt the changes right away, it was all different: now we have a floor and more space, a good roof – no leaking water. Also it’s not cold anymore and the kids don’t get sick so often. We moved in the same night we finished the house; it was very comforting to know we won’t get wet again or move the beds at night.
My greatest blessing is to see my children happier, healthier and improving in school; they all have distinction bands for their high grades. We are very proud of them.
TECHO helped us to change our lives, I think these projects are very good, and in this neighborhood specifically; there are a lot of people in need, like us, and these projects are not done often. It feels good to know there are people who worry about doing these things for us and come here to give us hope for the future.”
“A fair and poverty free society, where everyone has the opportunities needed to develop their capacities and fully exercise their rights.” – TECHO’s Vision. This is what we want for this community and all of you are helping us to reach this vision.
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