Open Air Classroom
Open Air Classrooms or “Aulas al Aire Libre” aim to engage children in their education and school by providing fun alternatives to traditional classroom teaching. We do this by teaching teachers and children how to create and maintain a vegetable garden.
Children learn about the process of growing food, nutrition, different vegetation while enjoying being outside. The program aims to bring more fun into education while teaching children the responsibility of caring for something and the value in where food comes from.
Our Open Air Classroom - Laguna de Sinamaica
Laguna de Sinamaica, is settled in a remote area in La Guajira. The community lives by the water and uses small boats for transportation. Beautiful surroundings mix with extreme poverty and neglect, where access to clean water, basic services, and food is extremely complicated and a daily struggle.
The hope for a better quality of life is very low and children are sent to school, not necessarily because they believe in education, but because is a way for them to have a meal.
Tepui introduced the idea of Open Air Classrooms with the aim to engage school children in perceiving the school and learning as something that can be fun and beneficial at the same time. We teach teachers and children how to create and maintain a vegetable garden. They grow their vegetables and fruits, learn about nutrition and complement their school meals with their own produce.
Children get a hands-on experience of their environment. They learn to care for and protect their produce. Furthermore, building and caring for a vegetable garden provides a fantastic opportunity for reinforcing values around responsibility and citizenship and empowers the community to alleviate some of the barriers of food security.