Environmental Awareness

Start Date: March 2005
Main Contacts : Local School Directors
Project Manager: Mateo Paneitz, E.D.
Current Status: In Progress

Purpose

To inspire Comalapa´s young people to conserve their limited resources and protect their natural environment.

Description

In 2007, we built a new classroom at Parque Chimiya with the objective of using it as a venue for courses on topics including recycling, reforestation, preservation of natural habitats and composting. We also launched an educational outreach program through which Long Way Home volunteers become involved in our existing network with local elementary and middle schools.

Although Comalapa is an agricultural community in which the people live "close to the land," the ideas of studying the environment and contributing to its sustainability are relatively new to Comalapans.   Most elementary aged children here have a general awareness of the importance of a clean environment, but there are few programs that allow children to learn about their natural surroundings and how to preserve them.   It is becoming increasingly relevant for community members who depend on a variety of readily available resources (firewood, for example) to practice sustainable methods.   We expect that our outreach program will inspire a heightened sense of urgency among Comalapans about environmental stewardship.