Help School fight Climate Change w/ Green Building

Dear Long Way Home Supporters!

We are coming to the end of 2025 and we have had another extraordinary year, and we did it with your help! In 2025, 178 students attended Hero School and received a high-quality education! We employed 22 teachers, 5 green builders, and 4 administrators, all locals. And all of our employees have jobs because of our donors. This is a big deal, especially since most of our teachers and students are young Indigenous women. In 2025, we built 144 floors, 6 ventilated stoves, 2 water tanks, 1 compost latrine, a retaining wall, and a brand new classroom, all to benefit people living in extreme poverty. Due to our partnership with Engineers Without Borders, we delivered water to an entire village. Due to our partnership with W.A.T.A.org, we distributed 200 water filters, and now more than 1000 people have access to clean drinking water. They also gave the LWH students and teachers a huge delivery of much-needed school supplies. On the Hero School campus, we completed the last classroom, and now you can hear marimba music throughout the campus. We are also making progress on our original curriculum, which means that we will soon expand our already impressive impact. All of this (and much much more) is because of our donors. We truly cannot do this without your support. Thank You, Thank You, Thank You from the entire LWH team and have a very happy holiday. 

Links:

• Our New Website

A few days ago, while running a few errands around Comalapa, our construction manager, Adam Howland, stumbled across a neighbor who had repurposed used tires into an impressive set of retaining walls to protect his home and land. In 2016, Jose Sic, who was born and raised in Comalapa, stopped by Hero School because he said he wanted to learn how to build retaining walls with used tires. He volunteered for a few days and told us that he had learned all that he needed to know. We did not hear from him again. A few days ago, Adam discovered Jose's retaining walls and had a chance to reconnect. Jose said that he packed a few tires after work and during most weekends until he finished for about 4 years.  In total, he said that he had used about 3000 tires. During his discussion with Adam, Jose mentioned that his wall is ongoing so that he can put all of his rubbish into tires rather than using a local ravine like everybody else. He also mentioned that his neighbors took notice and that several of them had built tire retaining walls. He thanked Hero School for setting the local example of an alternative to throwing rubbish into a ravine. When constructing Hero School, we hoped that we could set a positive example and that people would run with our example on their own terms. Jose's retaining walls give us hope!