University of Idaho senior Claire Majors didn’t set out to travel thousands of miles across continents when she signed up for the UI Humanitarian Engineering Corps (UI-HEC) at Palousafest three years ago.
“They caught my attention with a big map of Bolivia they had at the table,” Majors said.
The student-run nonprofit organization has a five-year agreement to work with the rural Carani community in Bolivia. Across continents and language barriers, members of the UI-HEC are helping to fund and design a sustainable and effective water supply system for the people of Carani.
To fundraise for their ongoing project, the UI-HEC teamed up with the Curing Wendigo charity group. The two groups will host the fourth annual Concert for Compassion in Moscow’s East City Park from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. Sept. 30.
Though the event was originally scheduled for earlier this month, it was postponed due to poor air quality. Now, the organizers said they are excited to see the concert in smoke-free weather.
Admission to the concert is free, but ice cream, games, face painting and henna are available for purchase. The concert’s original lineup of musicians has changed since the event was rescheduled, but will still feature a variety of local artists including Dan Maher and Jodi Marie.
“Our primary goal is to raise awareness and support for the project, but we also hope to put on a great community event,” Majors said.
For the past three years, UI-HEC has worked to support the Carani community and show engineering students a real-world human-oriented need for their skills. Over the course of UI-HEC’s five-year project, the student team has been working to design and install a gravity-fed supply tank and water distribution system. Every year, a small group of UI-HEC members also get the chance to travel to Bolivia and watch their plans come to life.
Majors was part of last year’s UI-HEC travel team, and spent 10 days in Bolivia working with Carani locals to install part of their new water system. The community’s outdated government-installed water system was clogged and broken, and many houses didn’t have a direct connection to even a broken water line.
“It was kind of a whirlwind trip,” Majors said.
Traveling to Bolivia allowed the mechanical engineering student to hear directly from the affected community members about what was working and what still needed to be done.
However, the UI-HEC has plenty of opportunities to support their Bolivian project without traveling overseas. They host two major fundraisers each year: the Concert for Compassion in the fall, and a Fundraising Bash every spring. Both events are open to the public.
Majors looks forward to another successful Concert for Compassion, and said she invites anyone living in or around Moscow to drop by and learn more about the UI-HEC’s projects while enjoying some great local music.
“Moscow has so many community-oriented events,” she said. “We want to keep that same community feel and support a great cause while we’re at it.”
For more information about the UI-HEC, visit their website http://www.ewb-ui.org/ or find them on Facebook @HumanitarianEngineeringCorps. Their group is open to students in any field, and they welcome non-engineering majors. Students interested in joining the UI-HEC should attend their 5:30 p.m. Wednesday meetings in the John C. Wahl thinkTANK in the Janssen Engineering Building.
Beth Hoots can be reached at [email protected]