By Matthew Paneitz | Executive Director
We did it again! In April 2024 Long Way Home''s flagship education center, Hero School, teamed up with Ecohab.org to transform tires, ecobricks, and glass bottles into the off-grid marvel that is now the Aguas Calientes classroom. In early 2024 the Hero School teachers visited 4 communities that demonstrated a desperate need to improve and expand their school infrastructure. After extensive consideration, the Hero School teachers settled on working in the small village of Aguas Calientes. Aguas Calientes is located about 10 miles from Comalapa and is part of the Comalapa municipality. The Aguas Calientes middle school teachers explained that they have students waiting to enroll but that there is not enough space. An additional classroom would allow them to enroll another 20 local students. That settled it and Hero School committed to pooling all available resources to build the classroom. Our first call was to Ecohab.org, specialists in off-grid infrastructure, design, and implementation. Ecohab invited 15 of their full-time crew and another 11 people signed up for the Green Building Workshop. When combined with the Hero School builders and volunteers we were a solid crew of 35.
For one month the team worked Monday through Saturday to build this classroom. Throughout the month the Aguas Calientes middle school students jumped into the fray and provided invaluable support around the construction site while simultaneously learning the tricks of the green building trade. And the vibe around the job site was enthusiastic. Everywhere you looked there were smiles. Each day we could see the progress and each evening we relived the day's successes.
And yes this classroom is run with solar power! This is the only solar panel in the village!
Unlike so many well-intentioned construction projects, we finished what we started in the time allotted. On the last day the Aguas Calientes teachers and students, the Ecohab builders, the Hero School crew, representatives from the Ministry of Education and all of the international volunteers broke bread to celebrate our united victory. Please visit lwhome.org to sign up for our next great adventure and please don't forget to donate!
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