Summer 2023 service trip:
construction & renovation in guatemala
In June of 2023, seven Nordhoff LIVE students traveled to Guatemala. Upon arrival, we journeyed to Antigua, where we stayed in homestay with a local family. After learning about the various projects being supported by the local nonprofit we were working with, we began our service project. Throughout our week in Antigua, we were able to assist in the building of two new rooms onto a free medical clinic that focuses on child and maternity care in the town of Alotenango, which was just outside the city of Antigua. During our service work, our team helped to clear the area that the rooms would occupy, dug holes for support beams, mixed cement to support those support beams, painted all the beams and roofing that would be used in the project, built the framing for one of the two rooms and began installing the roofing.
During our time in Antigua, we were also able to learn about and volunteer at another project supported by the local nonprofit, a Special Needs Home and Hospital, where our group spent some time completing murals on the walls of the facility.
We left Antigua after our week of service work and traveled to Lake Atitlan. On the way, we explored some Mayan ruins and visited the largest market in Central America. We then spent three days in the Lake Atitlan region, where we took a Mayan cooking class, visited a Mayan women weaving coop, hiked through a nature reserve, and visited several small towns that border the lake, in addition to kayaking in the lake itself.
After our days of service work, we spent our evenings in Antigua exploring and learning about the culture of the city. Our group learned about the history of Antigua, took a salsa and bachata class, participated in a chocolate making workshop, and visited a nearby organic coffee farm. We ended our week in the city of Antigua with a marimba performance. Before leaving Antigua, we also journeyed to a nearby volcano, Acatenango, and spent a day trekking to the top!
tHANK YOU TO OUR 2022-2023 SPONSORS who made this trip possible:
Ojai Valley optimist club
cafe boku
Leslie Rule
Ixchel Gladstone
Richard Bolton
charles slosberg
beth hagenlocker
katie frazier
gina pastega
michelle graci
daniel garza
nicole pitarre
william & dianna marks
Raquel Giraldez
Susan crutchfield
John hector
linda burr
Ojai Valley Lions Club
sojka studios
Colonial tree & landscaping
Charlene hartenstein
ken umholtz
anna dang
sara marnell
marian perry
rebecca madrigal
jennifer wright
ken eros
ellen sojka
jennifer erickson
george & susan stockwell
charles young
jim halverson
connie biggers
Rotary Club of Ojai West
kara hooper
monica aparicio
cloud climbers jeep tours
kirsten stoltmann
leslie harris
rikki horne
Dean wigger
george locke
natascha burdeinei
hugh & eliana thacher
Lindsey & Ira Stockwell
Linda Jobman
Allie stockweLl
irene hector
Philip adams