Members of the University of Idaho Engineers Without Borders raised about $600 toward their work on developing clean water access in a Bolivian village during their Wednesday donut sale fundraiser.
Students in the UI branch of EWB focus on developing and using professional skills to help the people of Chiwirapi, Bolivia — a community in the Andes Mountains — gain access to clean drinking water, irrigation and education about sanitation methods.
The group is a branch of EWB USA, a nationally based organization that connects communities with basic needs like clean water or adequate sanitation methods.
In the case of Chiwirapi, the community needs a new drinking water system, and has an equally high desire to develop irrigation within the community.
Current UI EWB President Rachel Hill, who will graduate this spring with a master’s degree in civil engineering, said it was crucial to talk to the inhabitants of Chiwirapi, and determine what they felt would be important for part of this project. She said it can be easy to forget to ask questions about their preferences, but they are the people who will be living with the end result of the technology, and who have the most experience in the location.
Hill said when the team asked about preferences on an assessment trip, community members said they had an equal value for drinking water and irrigation. She said the group recently became aware that the community is also concerned about learning effective sanitation practices. Hill said EWB will start to address this issue after gathering more information from their next trip there in June.
EWB is working with a Bolivian group called Engineers in Action (which has the same purpose as EWB, but works from Bolivia) to improve Chiwirapi’s water system. It will take several more years before the project is completely finished, but the two groups are making progress.
Hill said she joined EWB because she wanted to solve the world water crisis. She said she has found that problems are more complex than she had originally thought they were based on what she had experienced in academic settings. An experience she said was frustrating to her, but one that taught her some important things.
“I think for a while it made me feel like I didn’t want to engage, that I didn’t want to get involved,” Hill said. “I don’t know if we’re helping, I don’t know if we’re hurting. I don’t know. The more I’ve been involved, there’s a lot we can learn from interacting with other cultures, and seeing how they go about solving problems of needing water.”
EWB treasurer, Will Parker, has been a member for three years. He said he enjoys being a part of the group because of the people who get involved in the project.
Not all members of EWB are engineering students. Parker said some of the students who have been involved in the group were majoring in things such as art, philosophy, biology and music, and one of his favorite group members was actually an anthropologist.
“Everybody who would have a position in a company in the real world has a position here,” he said. “It’s an opportunity to develop professional skills, and you get to hang out with people that are interested in developing those professional skills and in making a difference in the world.”
Parker said EWB’s primary purpose is to help other people by using technology appropriately. He said the term, “appropriate technology,” is an important aspect of what EWB represents. He said technology can be used to help improve the lives of others in some cases, while it may have unforeseen negative consequences in others. He said, when used appropriately, technology has the power to make a change in a person’s life.
“Engineering is more than just building in the developed world and making little incremental improvements in efficiency to get you a raise at work,” Parker said. “Engineering is what allows us to have clean water, to have electric lights, to have computers, to have bridges and roads, and that’s what Engineers Without Borders is about.”
Daphne Jackson can be reached at [email protected]