Help School fight Climate Change w/ Green Building

A few days ago, while running a few errands around Comalapa, our construction manager, Adam Howland, stumbled across a neighbor who had repurposed used tires into an impressive set of retaining walls to protect his home and land. In 2016, Jose Sic, who was born and raised in Comalapa, stopped by Hero School because he said he wanted to learn how to build retaining walls with used tires. He volunteered for a few days and told us that he had learned all that he needed to know. We did not hear from him again. A few days ago, Adam discovered Jose's retaining walls and had a chance to reconnect. Jose said that he packed a few tires after work and during most weekends until he finished for about 4 years.  In total, he said that he had used about 3000 tires. During his discussion with Adam, Jose mentioned that his wall is ongoing so that he can put all of his rubbish into tires rather than using a local ravine like everybody else. He also mentioned that his neighbors took notice and that several of them had built tire retaining walls. He thanked Hero School for setting the local example of an alternative to throwing rubbish into a ravine. When constructing Hero School, we hoped that we could set a positive example and that people would run with our example on their own terms. Jose's retaining walls give us hope!

The excitement on the Hero School campus is palpable. In 2025 we will finish the construction of our final campus classroom. The inauguration date is set for May 19th at 1030am and our 177 teachers, 25 students, administrators, builders, parents of the students, partners, friends, volunteers, and neighbors will be present. We invite you, the donors to join us on this joyous occasion. You made this day possible and we can't thank you all enough for your ongoing generosity. The following day we honor our commitment to sustainable development by initiating our 2025 student-led projects. We will build 7 smoke-safe stoves, 2 water tanks, a dry compost latrine, and a retaining wall for 10 families living in the community that need our support. This is a big moment for us because we mobilize the entire campus to accomplish an important part of our mission. This mobilization is possible because we are making progress in creating original lesson plans that guide our activities, on the ground. In really exciting and news, we are going to also build 2 classrooms in a neighboring small village. To accomplish this feat volunteers from all over the world will team up with our Hero School team during our 2025 Green Building Workshop. You can join this team by clicking the link below and filling out the application. Overall, we are excited for what 2025 will bring and can't thank you all enough for making all of this (plus a lot ) possible.

Fun fact. In 18 years we (thousands of volunteers and hundreds of students and teachers) have never sent a single scrap of trash to a landfill. 

Links:

• Sign up for our Green Building Workshop!
• Yes, we document everything!
• Not tired of this one yet!