Ericka was born in Newton, MA and is an architect by profession. She received her BA at Connecticut
College and her MA at Syracuse University. Ericka became involved with Long Way Home after meeting the
LWH crew at the BuildBoston conference in November 2008.
In February 2009, Ericka traveled to Guatemala for a four-month trial period. Ericka's learning was
hands-on and immediate, and included filling tires with earth and stuffing trash into bottles.
Collaborating with Construction Manager, Adam Howland, she began incorporating green design into the
Tecnico Maya school plan.
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Ericka's Guatemalan life has fallen into a daily routine of mornings at the school site and afternoons of
computer design, communication, blogging and meetings. In the evenings, she prepares for the next day of
work with other staff and volunteers. She says, "Here we are living what we do."
Ericka says about her change of work lifestyle:
"I suspected that there was another option for working that was different from the conventional working
in a big city in an office. I wanted to combine a sense of adventure with my work life. Here, I am
outside every day."
Ericka sees the trash problem in Guatemala stemming from no centralized trash and recycling
systems. It is normal to combine all trash, including recyclables and compostables, into one bag and
deposit it in illegal dumps located along waterways. She believes that Guatemalans
are willing to increase their recycling efforts but better education combined with a strong municipal
government is necessary to affect real change. Ericka thinks Long Way Home is making a difference by teaching a more
sustainable manner of trash disposal.