- A group opportunity. Invite your friends.
Internship in Guatemala
ORGANIZATION: Long Way Home
Please visit the new page to apply.
- A group opportunity. Invite your friends.
We are looking for volunteers to come work in Guatemala at our new site in the rural highlands. Cost of the program is extremely affordable (only $200/month) and you will get the chance to work with a lot of kids but also gain valuable experience in community planning,community development, program management, project creation, and a Long Way Home is a non-profit organization originating in the United States that seeks to bring together resources to empower youth to realize their full potential by fostering civic interaction, creating educational opportunities and encouraging healthy lifestyles through extracurricular activities. Our current project has us in San Juan Comalapa, Guatemala, working with the Guatemalan Maya to construct an ecological park, recreation center, and biodiesel school. Long Way Home is comprised of employees, interns, and volunteers who have been trained to work in the specific geographical, cultural, and political climate of the mountainous highlands of central Guatemala. The diversity of the Long Way Home staff provides a variety of necessary skills: permaculture and horticulture techniques, appropriate technology, spanish and Mayan languages, water treatment, and teaching. The organization offers a volunteer program and internships. Long Way Home is a small organization that emphasizes long-term development and self-sustaining growth through a joint effort of Long Way Home, which helps initiate and finance projects, and local groups, which maintain and sustain the projects over time. The group chooses projects that not only benefits particular communities but that can be completed in efficiently and cost-effectively in regards to time, funds, and natural resources.
2 More opportunities with Long Way Home
Opportunities
About Long Way Home
Location:
227 W Hershey St, Ashland, OR 97520, US
Mission Statement
Long Way Home's mission is to use sustainable design and materials to construct self-sufficient schools that promote education, employment and environmental stewardship. Our vision is to empower communities to break the cycle of poverty through innovative solutions to local challenges.
Description
Long Way Home (LWH) began operations in San Juan Comalapa, in the indigenous highlands of west-central Guatemala, in 2004, with a grassroots, community development strategy to bring local residents together to learn about eco-friendly living, sustainable technologies, and improved waste management solutions. Together with a local NGO and our neighbors, we transformed five acres of rural land into a community park. In lieu of the .25 admission, we charged a plastic bottle stuffed with trash, called "eco-bricks." This created a stream of building materials for our current construction project: building a school.
In December of 2008, LWH purchased land one mile from Comalapa's city center. We began construction of the 18-building green academy, Tecnico Chixot, using re-purposed trash and alternative methods. The structures are robust in their structural integrity, offer additional resistance to seismic activity, and incorporate natural indoor climate controlling properties. At the completion of construction, the school will have the capacity for over 300 students from K-12. The curriculum will be focused on environmental education and alternative solutions, educating the next generation of uniquely skilled entrepreneurs in this community.
Currently we have 130 students K-9, and employ over 40 local residents between the school and construction staff, impacting not just local educational options, but the economy as well! We have already turned over *400 tons of trash* into 14 buildings and, with your help, we can continue our impact locally and globally.
CAUSE AREAS
WHEN
WHERE
Proyecto Chuwi TinamitSan Juan Comalapa, Chimaltenango Guatemala
DATE POSTED
April 17, 2024
SKILLS
GOOD FOR
- Teens
- Group
REQUIREMENTS
- Must be at least 16