Mexico
Mexico City, one of the world's biggest and most spectacular cities, vibrant and full of contrast . The gap between rich and poor is shocking and whilst millions submit to the daily routine it's inspiring to find a group of young people who are doing their best to make a change for those less fortunate, whilst also educating others to live a more sustainable lifestyle within this all consuming city.
This group has set up a small education facility to educate and help the local population to become self sustainable without having to rely on government handouts of which there are very few. It is set in a slum surrounded by "Chabolas" on the outskirts of Mexico City in La Viga, San Francisco, Chimalpa.
They are giving up their free time to teach the locals (amongst other things) about water management systems, use of passive solar energy to heat and cook where there is no electricity, to encourage self sufficiency by starting small scale market gardens as well as providing a school for secondary education for the local children.
At the moment they have a small breeze block room for over 100 students. (see the pic on the right) and are vastly underfunded. What we hope to do with money raised via the Workaway foundation is enable them to build a larger community school as well as be able to provide them with materials to further their studies.
One interesting part of this project is that they have developed a way to produce building materials by recycling waste residue. Its a much more economical way of producing the building materials , it's sustainable and it's quick and easy to use. This means that other communities nearby will also be able to use the same techniques to build totally sustainable urban dwellings.
Workawayers will be able to visit the site and volunteer on the project helping to build the school as well as teaching (or learning) about sustainable management in an urban environment.
