Volunteer and Apprentice program
First of all we really appreciate your interest in our projects.
As you know we have two projects going on: 1) the School (Instituto de Educación Integral Magdalena Cervantes) and 2) Proyecto San Isidro (with its courses, the buildings, land restoration, organic agriculture, etc,). The link between the two is the social responsibility with the community. In order to accomplish this, the School teaches academics in a context of social responsibility and San Isidro provides economical support for the school.
We have two kinds of programs for people who want to come here. The first one is a socially responsible Volunteer program, and is managed through the School. The people we accept in this program are those who want to share their time, knowledge and life with others and have some particular skill or skills to offer that fit with the needs of the School. These could be: teaching (math, handcrafts, dancing, singing, music, etc), natural building (making ximprovements on existing school buildings or helping to build anew in the school area), library experience, gardening, and more. The idea here is to help the School project. One basic requirement is that you enjoy children and understand that they are very good teachers also. We ask for people who can help in the projects that are already in place. We ask for 6 hours a day, Monday through Saturday for at least 6 months. If a person wants to volunteer more time in the program, the option is theirs. Because the volunteer will be living as a part of the community, the use of alcohol and drugs is not acceptable. What we offer the volunteers are: a small, beautiful, natural house to live in with a dry toilet; running water; electricity; a safe neighborhood with some dogs that may bark at night; some foods for the volunteer to prepare (such as wheat, corn, beans, fava beans, milk during summer and, if the earth is generous, a weekly basket of fresh organic vegetables). The volunteers also have the opportunity to learn or improve their Spanish, to be inside authentic Mexican culture, and occasionally they travel with us to visit other Mexican towns.
The second program is the Apprentice program which was initiated last summer. For this program, we accept people who want to experience the Mexican culture and to learn specific subjects, such as: natural building techniques and their application, land restoration, organic agriculture and Spanish within the context of the course. The fee is $1500 dollars a month and includes: a place to live, access to our library, material for the practices and our teaching time, which is 3 hours per day Monday through Friday. The practice time which is outside of class time is established by the apprentice. This program does not include food, only a place to cook. As in the volunteer program, the students will be living within the community, and again we stress that alcohol and drugs are not acceptable. This program also includes a tour of various natural houses or vernacular towns.
We hope this can help to clarify your decision. Please let us know of any questions you have and if one of these programs fits with what you want to learn. We intend to be honest and avoid creating false expectations and we hope to have you here soon.