Eliza Bellis ’09 and Ata Zaklicki ’09 recently sold handmade bracelets to raise money for From Houses to Homes, New Jersey-based nonprofit organization that builds homes in the poorest sections of the Guatemala in the hopes of improving families lifestyles. Many members of The Hill community supported the efforts and a total of $853 will be donated to benefit disadvantaged families.

This past summer, Eliza and Ata traveled to Guatemala with From Houses to Homes to help build a home for a family. After Eliza’s brother, Jamer Bellis ’07, participated in a project with the organization two years ago, the girls became interested. For one week they stayed at a language school in the city of Antigua, each day taking a 30-minute drive every with other volunteers into a rural, poverty-stricken area where they helped construct a home for a family of four. Job tasks included stacking cement blocks, making cement, spackling, and pouring a cement floor. 

When not taking part in building the house, Eliza and Ata spent time playing games with the family’s two children. Even though there was a language barrier they were able to communicate and have fun with the children by playing simple card games. Both students plan on returning to Antigua in two years to put the finishing touches on the one-room cement house and see the family again.

Enjoy the slideshow of photos shared by Eliza and Ata.