In 2009 LWH began construction on a 17 building educational/vocational school complex. The Técnico Maya School was initiated in partnership with and in response to a request from the faculty of the Escuela Técnico Maya, a severely under-resourced local elementary school. The new educational complex will be a K-12 facility and is being constructed on 1.75 acres less than a mile from Comalapa’s town center. The curriculum will have a strong vocational and environmental education emphasis and will include lessons in Mayan language and culture. The school is unique in that it is being built with locally available, repurposed materials such as rammed-earth tires, inorganic trash-filled plastic bottles and rammed-earth polypropylene grain sacks. It is integrating passive solar principles, composting toilets and rainwater harvesting systems into its design for sustainability.
The goals of the vocational school are to model and teach alternative construction techniques that provide an environmentally friendly use for waste materials and integrate traditional technical and entrepreneurial skill sets. We began holding classes with 21 students in grades 2nd-5th in the 2012 academic year. This year we were able to add Kindergarten and 1st grade and double our student population. In academic year 2014, we hope to add the sixth grade and therefore offer full primary school. At this time, students attend classes in the workshops that will eventually serve as the vocational rooms and we are constructing the primary classrooms.
Adventure Life donated $2500 in grant funds for our first four primary school bathrooms. These bathrooms will use an “outlaw” septic system that processes solid waste and black water through a filtration system and into black water cell sewn with cleansing plants. These four bathrooms will serve 60 students and three teachers. The use of gray and black water cells, sand and gravel filtration, and cleansing plants will remove the need to rely on an inadequate municipal infrastructure by safely assimilating the waste stream on-site.
Adventure Life has been an extraordinary travel resource for us over the years and today was no exception. Our River Cruise booking was handled by Jess (who has been our personal trip planner for several years) the same day as our inquiry. Suggestions were given for cabin choice and pre-trip options (that were not shown on the cruise line's website) like airport transfers and prepaid gratuities. Trip insurance recommendations followed and we were assigned a travel co-ordinator till the end of the tour. All we have to do is show up! Great service from friendly folks.
APtravelwell
1 day ago
My representative Kevin was very responsive generally and in crafting our itinerary to our specific priorities.
Rocco Labella
1 day ago
Although there was a lot of paper work, I received help and guidance when I needed it.
Donna Kirby
2 days ago
Our travel was flawless! The rider pickup (airport, hotel, ship) was seamless. Jane's recommendation for Emerald Cruise Sakara was everything I wanted but the experience was soooo much more. Adventure Life took care of each and every detail and this was the easiest of all my travels.
Anne Petty
3 days ago
Follow up was effective any questions were answered in a timely manner