by: Cindy Dinh, Baker ’11
Summer and winter breaks signal a migratory response in some students to leave their pencils and books behind for warmer climates. Rather than coast to the beaches and resorts, students from the Rice chapter of Engineers Without Borders (EWB) leave the hedges several times a year on humanitarian projects.
Formed in 2003, this student-driven group has designed and built sustainable projects in underdeveloped countries. The inaugural project was a water distribution system in El Salvador and projects in nearby countries have since been implemented, including water sanitation in Mexico and a footbridge in Nicaragua.
After two years of planning, designing and building, Rice EWB can add an environmentally- friendly health clinic to their growing list of accomplishments. In a series of four trips, EWB was able to establish ties with organizations in the region, build the structure and finalize plans to open the clinic.
In Bernadino Diaz Ochoa, Nicaragua, the subsistent farming community has made ends meet despite the lack of electricity or access to clean water. With the nearest health clinic a two hour drive from the town, most members of this community receive little or no health care at all. In 2006, a Rice EWB team (Nicaragua II) met with local community members to ascertain the community’s greatest need. They soon determined that a health clinic would benefit the community of Bernadino and four neighboring communities, which would serve over 600 people.
After observing how a previous EWB water filtering project impacted people’s lives, Weiss senior and EWB project coordinator Tim Burke was motivated to lead a group of six students to finalize the construction of the health clinic in December 2007. “A clinic is a big undertaking and I wanted to see this project through to the end,” Burke said. In previous trips to Bernadino Diaz Ochoa, EWB has implemented a solar lighting system for a local church and three different water purification systems. Families are equipped with clay Potters for Peace filters which cost $15 each and provides a viable way to receive clean water.
EWB students designed the clinic to cater to the community’s needs while using available resources. The students conferred with civil engineering professors at Rice, architects at NASA and professional engineers during the design process. Driven by environmental concerns, the team was hesitant to use cinderblocks in the building since it would be costly and induce poor ventilation. Instead, the clinic was built with strawbales, stucco, local wood and adobe. Using local materials makes it easier to maintain and substantially lowers the cost of the project.
“Because of the large scale flooding in the area, we can use agriculturally renewable products like straw from the fields to rebuild walls in case it rains,” Burke said.
At the 2007 EWB-USA International Conference, the Rice Nicaragua II team’s work designing and building a green health clinic was recognized by an award for “Most Appropriate Technology”. The design plans from the health clinic and the project on biosand filters in El Salvador were jointly presented at the EWB International conference in March 2008, featuring “Sustainable Engineering and Global Health.”
Forming relationships with the community and other organizations is critical in organizing any project. The team usually has one or two interpreters who are fluent in Spanish. Viqui Arbizu-Sabater, Lecturer at the Center for the Study of Languages at Rice University, joined a group of students in May 2007 after learning about EWB’s projects from one of Burke’s writing assignments. “I liked the motivation to help humanity. You don’t need to be an engineer to be able to help,” Arbizu-Sabater said. Prior to the trip she helped students develop their Spanish conversational skills by practicing with them outside of class and translated documents from English to Spanish.
Community partnership is key in sustaining the project after the team leaves. “Some organizations come to a country and build a project and then just leave. There’s no community involvement in the project and no community ownership. Our projects are designed so communities can take ownership of the project after we leave,” Baker sophomore Matt Wesley said.
While all of the projects are designed and planned by students, the local community participates in the actual construction of the project. Partnerships with other non-government organizations in the area will furnish and provide the necessary backbone of the clinic, including trained staff and a visiting doctor. Rice EWB also educates the community on how to use, maintain and fix the new building.
“One of the most successful parts was when we talked to the Ministry of Health. They were able to donate a hospital bed, basic medical supplies and have a doctor come visit the clinic every 15 days,” Burke said. “Nicaragua offers universal free health care and the government wanted to emphasize rural communities.”
Wesley, who went on two of the Nicaraguan trips, will coordinate a new project in Nicaragua with Baker sophomore Amy Liu. Now that the clinic project is finished, the team has visited multiple communities to assess their needs. “We’re not looking for the community that’s the poorest. We’re also looking for communities that are organized and will be willing to work alongside us,” Wesley said.
As part of the assessment in Pueblo Nuevo, a village two kilometers north of the Costa Rican border, the EWB team conducted a health survey of the community, gathered water and soil samples and surveyed the topographical region in preparation of a second trip in May 2008. The preliminary plan is to provide Pubelo Nuevo with a central source of water. Since the village is spread out amongst a hill and a valley, EWB will consider the installation of an electric pump to send water to a storage tank on top of the hill and have it gravity fed down to the village.
While these projects require extensive design and research, it requires the effort of a diverse group of students. Wesley is a pre-med biology major and is one of the non-engineering members of the team. “You just have to show dedication to the team and be willing to learn during the meetings,” he said. “There’s a big humanitarian aspect to these trips.”
For more information please visit: http://ewb.rice.edu