By Lars Battle | LWH Volunteer
My name is Lars Battle and I’m currently living and working with Long Way Home in Guatemala after serving on its board of directors for four years from 2007 – 2011. I served in the Peace Corps in 2002 and 2003 alongside LWH’s founder, Matt Paneitz, and our construction manager extraordinaire, Adam Howland, where I was personally tasked with organizing community development councils in villages in the northwestern highlands. I have spent time on the ground here in San Juan Comalapa on four separate occasions since then, and with each experience, my departure has left me wanting more of this innovative project. So I am here to stay this time, presently serving as an honorary LWH staff member.
We find ourselves in the midst of the dry season, a particularly productive time of year for a variety of reasons. Working with on-site dirt is a large part of what we do here and the dry soil is essential for packing rammed-earth tires, and certainly helpful for clearing and leveling land for new structures to be erected. Additionally, this time of year brings us groups of college and graduate students using their winter break to support projects like ours. We recently welcomed a group of 14 graduate-level architecture students from the University of Colorado in Denver followed by a group of 20 George Washington University undergraduates, each group spending a week or more working tirelessly on the project.
The CU-Denver group dedicated their time to the design and construction of an octagonal bamboo frame for a trash bottle structure that will serve as part of the volunteer/intern facility on the property. The GW crew packed tires around the same structure, filled cracks in the mud roof of Aula 0 and helped to dig out the bottom of the massive tire cistern at the top of the property.
After years of experience, our Guatemalan work crew is well accustomed to working with international volunteers. It’s a pleasure to observe and to be a part of the camaraderie and cultural exchange between the workers and the revolving door of volunteers. The crew is now putting the finishing touches on Aula 0, building the bottle walls at the bamboo structure and finishing the preparation work for the upcoming Earthship building workshop that begins next week. This will be a highlight of my stay thus far and the anticipation in the air is palpable right now. We are hosting over 60 international volunteers and the Earthship crew from Taos, NM for a 3 week, start-to-finish build of a simple survival Earthship home for a local family. It will be a special learning experience for everyone involved.
Central to LWH’s mission is the educational aspect of our project. We are pleased to announce that school began this week, on January 14th, and we now have four teachers in four finished classrooms, teaching students ranging from preschool to the 5th grade. Whether singing in unison in their classrooms or giggling during recess, the students are a delight to have around. I am working closely with the Técnico Maya school Director and administrators to make sure that the school year is a successful one.
Please visit our website to receive the latest news from San Juan Comalapa, and please support our efforts so that our progress in the latter portion of this school construction project maintains its strong pace.
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By Lisa Massey | Director of Administration
By Terrance Lee | Intern
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