About the Volunteer Program
We offer volunteer opportunities at the EcoSpanish School as well as around the community.
The goal of our volunteer projects are to integrate Spanish language practice while giving back
through community service projects and local and native agroecology practices. We aim to
provide hands-on experiential education while observing and learning social and cultural
aspects of Guatemalan life.
Sample day of a volunteer:
- Eat breakfast with you homestay family
- Arrive at EcoSpanish, just a short walk away
- Work with other volunteers to construct an herb spiral using recycled materials found on site, or
around town. - Transplant and water in several aromatic herbs to be used in the kitchen.
- Take compost from kitchen to the banana circle compost area.
- Paint a sign for the coffee tour.
- Practice making tortillas with Maria.
- Eat a snack of your tortillas with guacamole.
- Share a skill you possess with the teachers and students at school.
- Return to your homestay to eat lunch.
- Return to EcoSpanish for a few hours of Spanish class with one of our local teachers or
- Explore around San Juan, go for a hike to Cerro de la Cruz, learn how to weave a scarf or make
natural dyes from plants. - Enjoy the lake view, sunset, and sounds of birds in the tule (lake grass used to make straw
mats)
Return to your homestay for dinner and family time.
At this time, EcoSpanish is not able to trade volunteer work for Spanish classes.
Opportunities
On site at EcoSpanish:
- Developing and maintaining our lush ecology of productive and demonstrative gardens
- Work with fruit and vegetable production for our kitchen
- Work with medicinal plants, culinary herbs, teas, and plants used to make natural dyes
- Compost systems
- Coffee processing by hand
- Artistic sign construction
- Recycling projects
- Website design
- Publicity
Within the community of San Juan:
- School garden program
- Food assistance program with town residents
- After school tutoring with students
- Stray dog assistance program
- Medical assistance program
- We are also able to co-ordinate volunteering with other organizations within San Juan
Time Commitment
We ask that you commit to volunteering a minimum of 3 hours/day, 3 days/week.
There is a small one time volunteer processing fee of Q35.
Complete our volunteer application and email to ecospanishvolunteercommunity@gmail.com.
Feel free to email us with other questions about volunteering.