Gloria stands shyly with her hands covering her belly, her head tilted to one side and her hair covering a blind eye. She is around 40 years old, a proud mother of three daughters. Although she is mentally handicapped, she keeps an immaculately clean and tidy home. Her husband, Vasilizo, who is about 66 years old according to his daughters, sits on a small chair with a large smile and wrinkled hands that show the years of hard work he has endured.

The Ramirez Anguiano family lives in Los Galvanes, about 10 kilometers from the center of San Miguel de Allende. They are a humble and loving family of five. One daughter, who is severely mentally handicapped, is a patient in the mental institution in Leon. The other two daughters, both in their 20’s, live with them. The only material wealth Gloria and Vasilizo can give them is the shelter of their tiny, one-room abode. The parents slept outdoors in a lean-to made of partially-build adobe walls with two large aluminum sheets suspended over their heads - not much to protect them from the cold evenings and rainy summer season. They share their little compound with a turkey, a few chickens, a cat, a dog and a cheerful yellow parakeet.

Vasilizo and Gloria met over 30 years ago in the campo; they were both young and tending to their families’ animals. As they formed a family they built a small home on the piece of land they currently live on. They work long days during the asparagus season to bring income into their home (500 pesos a week each), and tend to a small piece of land with a maize and bean crop - their only form of income and survival. The neighbors have been helpful, giving them a little money in order for them to buy medicine for their daughter.

The two daughters, Olimpia and Reina, said that the house that the Casita Linda volunteers built means so much to them. “Finally our parents will be given something, after so many years of protecting us and giving everything to us. Our dream is to have a safe, dry home and also to be able to visit our sister, Socorro, in Leon.”

As we were working together mixing and pouring the cement, Vasilizo shyly approached one of the volunteers and whispered, “Can you put our name on the house so that no one can take it away from us?” Today, the home is adorned with a ceramic tile displaying the family name scripted in blue.