Summary
Long Way Home has been busy in the past months! From winning first place for charter schools of Comalapa in a football match to performing cultural dances at school assemblies to student graduation. Most notably the efforts of Green Building students, volunteers, and construction employees contributed to the building of our science lab. With that milestone, students should expect their science curriculum to be taught in their new school laboratory in the upcoming school year.
Challenge
The hope is to fill our new school laboratory with microscopes, science textbooks and other school materials so that students can have a well-rounded science education. In order to do that we need to fund the backbone of the school: teachers, construction employees, and staff. Without them, the school cannot keep running and Centro Educativo Técnico Chixot will never be able to have its own science lab.
Solution
Teachers, construction employees and staff are the glue of Long Way Home. Supporting them means our students enjoy holistic education through experiential learning, a safe and environmentally friendly learning space, and a school that is organized to accommodate students and their families needs. By supporting the foundations of the school, students can get the best out of their education because we're able to provide unique opportunities as we hope to see with our science lab.
Long-term Solution
Building a laboratory will give 120+ students at Centro Educativo Técnico Chixot a space with the tools to explore science. The science lab will lead to a ripple effect of environmental justice, students' success and their community’s wellbeing. Our future vision is that with an in-depth science based curriculum, these students - our future teachers, doctors, and activists- will be the leaders and educators for a better and safer world starting in their own community.
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It's a busy time at Long Way Home!
We are currently hosting our March Green Building Academy where international participants are learning acute skills from expert instructors. Last week we focused on earthen materials and learning concepts of green building. This week we are focusing on structural design. The last two weeks will focus on water and power systems.
If you want to learn more about the academy or join us for some of these workshops please see lwhome.org/academy!
We have also recently released our 2022 Annual Report! If you havn't seen it already, you can view the report on our website.
https://lwhome.org/finances-reports
At Long Way Home we reached our 18th year of operation and had a lot to celebrate...
This coming year we expect to have close to 200 students joining us from the immediate area of San Juan Comalapa, and a few from neighboring areas! It’s been beautiful to see the excitement for learning on campus and have students eager to attend Hero School. The teachers are also continuing to work on advancing the education for sustainable development focused curriculum to further the depth of student knowledge to combat crisis, empower themselves, and build community.
In the spring, students will apply the social studies, maths, and sciences, they’ve learned to build in the community. The different grades will be aided by our construction team to provide improved stoves, tinaco water tanks, composting dry latrines, and retaining walls in the community. And you’re welcome to come join us too! You can see past student projects and more green building resources in our digital catalog.
For a more intensive building experience, we will soon again host the Green Building Academy in March and July. These blended lecture and hands on workshops are led by international and local experts. Through focused courses on earthen materials, designing structures, water systems, and off grid power, participants will receive a study book, attend classroom sessions, and get practical experience.
If you or someone you know are looking for a high impact internship, volunteer, or service group opportunity in green building or with an international NGO, please reach out! You can also stay connected and follow projects on Instagram (@lwhome_org), Facebook, and YouTube.
We’ve crunched some numbers and recognize it takes about $25 per student, per month to operate and provide the interactive education we and alumni of Hero School and Long Way Home love so much. Thank you for supporting us to make that happen!
We wish you and your loved ones the best and hope to see you in 2023!
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Right now at Long Way Home we are developing the school campus, enhancing curriculum, and compiling it all into a catalog of green building knowledge.
On our website you can find the Investigation Unit, an ongoing database of over 80 past, present, and aspirational green building projects. We are sharing the project details on everything from retaining walls to water storage to off grid homes with hopes of helping springboard more ideas of sustainable building projects into reality. Along with descriptions, photos, renders, and animation videos, we are also providing material lists, project specs and many blueprints absolutely free. In addition to browsing the available library, you can financially support us by purchasing a personal copy of our Green Building Manual.
One such project is a new volunteer house made from tires, bamboo, cob, glass bottles, and ecobricks. This project is still under way but has already had many contributors to thank, starting with you incredible donors! Helping on site recently we’ve had participants from the July 2022 Green Building Academy (GBA) which was the largest and most diverse group we’ve hosted thus far. As we continue pulling together resources for completing this house, we hope it will become a nurturing home for many future volunteers and academy participants to serve Hero School, study natural building methods, and become global ambassadors for conservation and sustainable development. If you’re interested in attending a future GBA you can register now with a special early bird discount!
At Hero School, teachers and administrators are revamping lesson plans for K-11th grades by researching, innovating, and sharing best practices in Education for Sustainable Development and cascading enhanced curriculum onto the creative and powerful minds of Hero School students.
With 180 students, 28 teachers, a parent’s association of 150, a growing building team, continuum of volunteers, a modest admin team, and over 600 donors, we are now more than 1,000 people working together to save the planet. Thank you for being a part of this mission.
As we continue contributing to sustainable initiatives and investigate more green building options, we hope you’ll continue to support us. One great way to do so is through the GlobalGiving “Little by Little” campaignwhere donations up to $50 will be matched at 50% from September 12 – 16, 2022.
If you have questions about Long Way Home’s work, green building projects, supporting the annual Rubbish to Runway event, or getting more involved in other ways, you can reach us personally at OutreachCoordinator@lwhome.org or connect with us on Instagram @lwhome_org or Facebook @lwhomeorg.
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The first quarter of 2022 has been busy in more ways than one. With so many things going on, it’s difficult to know where to begin!
Our Curriculum Development Committee have been hard at work, carrying out teacher training sessions twice a week. Our newly invigorated teachers will be imparting the revised ESD (Education for Sustainable Development) curriculum to more students than ever before. Student enrolment is at an all-time high, and as Hero School’s reputation has spread, families from further afield have enrolled their children with us. In fact, interest was so great this year that several grades reached full capacity long before the closing of the enrolment period.
Despite a turbulent few months which saw a hopeful loosening, but then sudden tightening of Covid restrictions, disruption to students’ learning finally look set to end, with the return to normal on-site teaching on the immediate horizon. To financially support the additional cost of teachers’ student home visits, we raised an incredible $1,558 through GlobalGiving’s ‘Little by Little’ April Matching Campaign. Thank you to all our donors that participated!
In preparation for students’ return to campus, the construction team has been hard at work fitting out recently finished classrooms. They have been bolstered by the arrival of many eager volunteers - we welcomed in the new year with more green building volunteers than since before the pandemic! This diverse set of international volunteers were joined in February by an enthusiastic American Gap Year (Carpe Diem) service group. They provided much needed manpower to begin construction of GBA 4. When completed, this two-story volunteer house will triple our capacity. Not only will we be able to house more service groups, but GBA 4 also offers Long Way Home new possibilities, such as hosting retreats and educational conferences.
In March, this Carpe Diem group also participated in the first Green Building Academy (GBA) since before the pandemic. This month-long intensive course was led by a new instructor - Rohan Guyot Sutherland, a lecturer at California State Polytechnic University and Founder and CEO of Regenerative Systems. A huge hit with all of our March GBA participants, Rohan will be returning in July for the next GBA – places of which are filling up fast. Follow this link to learn more:
Through the GBA, we seek to offer green design to the wider public through in-person education. While 47 individuals have so far received GBA instruction, this year saw us leap ahead in our goal to democratise online access to green design. We uploaded years of green construction content onto a new ‘Investigation Unit’ page of our website, making the renders, material lists (in three languages), and project specs of 70 green construction projects (and counting) available to the public free of charge. Sharing out innovative research in this way truly sets us apart as a thought leader in the green building world.
Matt was able to personally share some of what makes Long Way Home special through a carefully tailored ‘Impactful Travel’ tour visit in April. If you’re interested in coming down to Guatemala to see our work for yourself, don’t hesitate to get in touch.
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