A Habitat home to raise a family in Costa Rica

Karen and Ballardo’s marriage has been tested time and time again. They have deal with illnesses, murder of a family member, persecution, and threats—all with the hope of giving their children a better life.

Ballardo Jesus Hernandez is 30 years old and his wife Karen Ortega is 27 years old. They are the proud parents of 4 children—11 year-old Juan Jairo, 6 year-old Jose Angel, 3 year-old Keilor, and 1 year-old Keisha. For many years this family lived in a town called Los Cuadros de Ipis de Guadalupe, with Karen’s family who took them in when they were in need.

However, about 2 years ago their living situation become precarious. One afternoon 4 men followed Karen’s sister home and threatened to kill her for her cell phone. During the struggle, Karen’s sister threw the phone to the floor and it broke. The thieves fled, obviously upset they did not get her phone. The days following the attempted robbery, the windows of their home were broken, the walls were graffitied, and their family was continuously threatened.

One September afternoon, almost a month after the attempted robbery, Karen’s father Gerardo was returning home from work when he was attacked by the same men. The men beat Gerardo and according to witnesses, the men were intent on intimidating the family and causing them to live in fear.

Within a few minutes the family came to Gerardo’s rescue and after a long struggle, they stopped the attackers and quickly brought Gerardo in to the house. In an attempt to free her father, Karen’s sister kicked one of the attackers. The man that she kicked fired a gun towards their home 4 times. Two of the bullets went through the door and hit Gerardo—ultimately killing him.

As if killing Gerarod was not enough, the attackers made it clear to the family that “they were not going to go to jail for just one death, they were going to kill the whole family”. Later that night, a law enforcement agent came to their home. They decided that it was no longer safe for the family to stay in their home and that they would need to find a new place to live, a place where the attackers could not find them.

Karen and her family were told to leave immediately and did not have enough time to grab all of their belongings—just those things they could carry on their back.

Within a few days, the family’s old home was taken over by a group of drug dealers and now serves as a place for the drug dealers to sell their drugs.

The anguish, the pain over the loss of a loved one, the fear instilled in them, the emotional trauma, and the economic hardship this family has had to endure is indescribable, both for the adults and especially the young children.

Today, almost two years after the attack, Karen and Ballardo’s family are desperately hoping to regain the life they had before the incident.

Despite having to overcome a chronic issue with his eyes that limits his ability to work, Ballardo still gets up every morning in search of a way to provide for his family. Currently he is piecing together odd jobs such as a garbage collector and harvesting hay in order to make money to support the family. While Ballardo is away at work, Karen is home taking care of the 4 children. Occasionally when she is able to scrape enough money together, she will buy beauty supplies or households goods at the local market that she will then turn around and sell to those in her community at a small profit.

Thanks to Karen and Ballardo's determination and the assistance of the Costa Rican government, Karen and Ballardo’s family is able to just barely make ends meet day to day.

After months of despair, after exhausting all of their resources, and after praying that their lives would return to normal, somehow their prayers were answered. In June, Ballardo and Karen were accepted in to the Habitat program. Upon hearing the news, the family screamed for joy and was filled with happiness –a living testament that against all odds, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. And that light is Habitat.

This new home gives the Ortega family the opportunity to rebuild their life and hopefully find the peace they have been looking for. Thanks to Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity supporters, this story has a happy ending.