Habitat home means healthier life for Costa Rican family

Guillermo Carballo lives in the town of Santa Barbara of Heredia, just northwest of the Costa Rican capital of San Jose, with his wife, Ivannia, and four children.

Their youngest, 10-year-old Kristel, has been diagnosed with cystic fibrosis, and her doctors emphatically told Guillermo and Ivannia that their daughter needed an adequate place to live.

Carballo turned to Habitat Costa Rica for help, and this past November — after helping volunteers build for two months — the family moved into their new home, leaving behind cramped quarters on a busy street for four rooms and a small backyard with plants.

Guillermo and Ivannia share the positive impact of their Habitat experience.

Guillermo: We were living in a small, borrowed house, with old walls, no ceilings and a lot of humidity. The house was located on a main road, so we experienced a lot of smoke and noise. It definitely was not a place where we could take care of our sick daughter, but we had no choice. We could not afford to move and rent somewhere else.

The day that Habitat Costa Rica brought the picks and shovels to our lot, that’s when I realized that we were actually going to live in a new home. I told myself, “If there are tools, there is hope.”

It was very exciting to see all the volunteers working alongside us. This was a dream becoming true for our family.

Ivannia: We live in a safer environment, without the pollution and the constant noise. The kids have a place where they can study and bring friends over, and we can take care of Kristel when she is out of the hospital. She sometimes asks us, “Mommy, is this really my house?”

Guillermo: Now that we finally have a place of our own, we can continue to work hard and make gradual improvements in it, something that we had never experienced before.

This is an opportunity that Habitat gave us to build an even better place for our children. I am so proud to call this my home and so thankful for all those who made it possible.