San Francisco Friends School
April 6-12, 2019
After 8 years of partnership between ViviendasLeón and the San Francisco Friends School, we have established a new travel program to the Mayan highlands region of Lake Atitlán, Guatemala. Our Global Education Program continues to incorporate major themes of global citizenship, cultural immersion, community building, and personal agency while participating in international service. Our program introduces students to new ways of thinking as they embark on a service-learning experience that will increase their empathy and understanding while helping build community between themselves and neighboring countries.
Students stay in homestays around Lake Atitlán, where they experience the cultural richness and warm hospitality of Guatemala. Students will be able to practice their Spanish skills while having breakfast and dinner with their host families as well as when interacting with their peers in rural communities. Throughout the week students will visit cultural and historic sites ranging from Mayan ruins, local cooperatives, and learn from locals about their craft and ancestral rituals.
To continue and expand our mission of eliminating rural poverty, we have forged a partnership with Mil Milagros, an established organization with 20 years of experience and deep connections in the region focusing on water, health and nutrition. ViviendasLeón and student groups will support and complement their work by building school kitchens and classrooms, among a number of other projects. Students will navigate new situations while carrying out the service projects in Santa Lucía Utatlán and work side by side with community members on these authentic rural development projects.
