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Sisters for life in Costa Rica

Picture of matt haugen matt haugen : 2:13 AM on October 13, 2011

Sujeidy and Ana Yancy Esquivel lost their mother when they were 12 and 15 years old respectively. Their father assumed the responsibility of taking care of them but within a few years he decided to start a new life with another woman. Unfortunately, Sujeidy and Ana Yancy never felt part of this new family as their step mother never accepted or welcomed them in to her life.

After their father got re-married, Sujeidy and Ana Yancy were kicked out of their home. They had no other choice but to live together in a make-shift wooden structure that was hastily put together behind their old house.

Due to the lack of family support, both girls were forced to look for help elsewhere. Both found themselves in relationships with men, which would ultimately lead to them having children at a young age.

Ana Yancy, who is 23 years old, is a mother of four children: Kendall is 8, Mainor is 6, Kelbin is 3 and Luis Fabrico is 7 months. Kelbin, the second youngest, has a heart defect that will require him to have ongoing treatments throughout his life. The father of her two youngest children has supported her in several ways—one, by voluntarily sending her about $80 per month, and two by helping her buy the building materials for the small home in which she and her children currently are living.

Ana Yancy has helped build this home with her own two hands, which is about 10 feet by 13 feet and made of wooden logs and has holes in many of the walls which lets cold air in at night and soaks them when it rains. The house does not have a washtub, a kitchen with running water, or their own bathroom—they have to share these with their father’s new family.

Sujeidy is 20 years old and the mother of three young children—Joiselyn, a five-year old girl, Jeimyn a three-year old boy, and Eikel an 8-month old baby. The father of Sujeidy’s three children left the family less than a year ago and he only sends her $40 per month which is not even enough to pay for food for the family.

With such a high level of need and without the option of working because they do not have anyone to take care of their children, Sujeidy and Ana Yancy decided to pool together the little money they do have so they can at least pay to feed their children.

As if their situation wasn’t already hard enough, the anger between the sisters and their stepmother only grew over time. Now not only are there problems with their stepmother abusing them—both physically and emotionally—their children are now the recipients of this abuse.

Because of this, Habitat Costa Rica had no doubts that accepting Sujeidy and Ana Yancy and their families in to the Habitat program was the right decision. With their simple, decent new Habitat homes, Sujeidy and Ana Yancy can start planning productive and educational activities for their children. And through their new homes, they will be able to watch their children grow up in a safe, positive environment.

Thanks to the help and efforts of Habitat supporters, we have removed 9 people from a situation of abuse and maltreatment—something they were subjected to their whole life. Until now.

Thanks to you, we continue building homes and creating hope for these young families!