Claire Majors, a University of Idaho mechanical engineering senior, spent 10 days in Bolivia over the summer to help install a gravity feed water supply system for a local village as part of the UI Humanitarian Engineering Corps (UI-HEC).
“I could feel the altitude immediately — my heart rate went up,” Majors said. “At first, I wasn’t sure it was because I was excited, or because the altitude was so high — definitely the altitude — a little bit of excitement too.”
Courtesy | Humanitarian Engineering Corps
Student dresses in traditional Bolivian attire with members of the community of Carani.
UI-HEC is a student-led, non-profit organization which partners with communities worldwide to help with community driven designs to improve access to basic human needs, UI-HEC President Monica Erickson said.
The main project for UI-HEC is installing a water pump in Carani, Bolivia, which Majors worked on. The group works in partnership with the city to help build the water system. This helps avoid giving a western solution to a South American problem, Erickson said.
The team’s goals are to help the community of Carani obtain water closer to their homes, empower them to meet their needs and build together, Erickson said.
Majors said the group spent the first few days in La Paz to help adjust to the new climate. When it came time to leave and venture to Carani, Majors said it took them several hours to drive because the streets were filled with Independence Day celebrations and a protest in a neighboring town.
The group received a friendly, yet formal greeting from the community as they arrived and participated in an Apatapi — a community potluck where a blanket is spread on the ground, Majors said. The women provided food — mostly potatoes, meat, cheeses and quinoa bread.
Majors said UI-HEC went on one big shopping trip to purchase a few tools they needed to begin the project, but did not alreadyhave. After returning to Carani, the team met with the community to decide the community needs, Majors said.
The community said they believed the spring where the town obtained water was producing less in years prior, so they decided to build another system with a different spring, Majors said.
One important aspect the UI-HEC team made sure to touch on before leaving was showing the community how to set up the different parts and familiarize them with construction of the pump so they could repair it after the team left.
After the group helped to install a spring box — a box used to help get water from the ground — the community invited them to a blessing for the box.
As the UI-HEC team prepared to leave, Majors said they were thrown a small celebration, where they had one last potluck.
Erickson said UI-HEC has another smaller project in Togo, Africa — a nursery for native trees in order to catch rainwater, which will water the trees.
However, the project in Bolivia is the corps’ main project, which usually lasts a minimum of five years, Erickson said. UI-HEC will not look for another project for a few years because Erickson said they do not want the community in Carani to feel that they are leaving before the project is over.
Erickson said UI-HEC is open to students of all majors. While engineering students make up a large portion of the group, Erickson said having a variety of students from different majors is important too.
UI-HEC also participates in Make a Difference Day, Saturday of Service and have worked with Habitat for Humanity in the past.
The corps is always looking for new ways to get involved in either another country or another community in Bolivia, Erickson said. If they can make the project happen, they want to do it.
“Water has been what we’ve historically been involved in just because those have been the projects we’ve gotten involved in,” Erickson said. “The good news is a gravity feed system is pretty basic to design remotely.”
Kali Nelson can be reached at [email protected]