For the second straight year, the Princeton chapter of Engineers Without Borders brought the necessities of life to some of the world's poorest communities. Nineteen students constructed electricity and irrigation systems in the mountain town of Huamanzana, Peru and the river village of Kumudo, Ethiopia this past June.
What was once a fledgling student group founded by Sebastien Douville '06 and Nate Lowery '06 has doubled its roster of volunteers and is continuing projects from last year.
Andrew Lapetina '07, president of Engineers Without Borders (EWB), said that the group aims "to form longstanding relationships, typically five years, with the communities we visit. After we have gone back for a couple of years, we plan to branch out further."
EWB's work in Huamanzana, which began in 2005, illustrates this process. When students returned this past summer to Huamanzana, they brought solar-powered electricity to a community of 25 households that previously had gone without electricity. Villagers must travel 20 miles to reach the nearest medical outpost.
In order to work on projects around the world, EWB chapters apply for projects through the organization's national headquarters.
"Many factors play into [project selection] including careful planning, financial condition and past performances by a chapter," Lapetina said.
For an EWB project in Ethiopia, students received assistance from professional engineer Clay McEldowney '69 through the 1969 Community Service Fund. McEldowney accompanied a group of students to construct a small dam and install irrigation systems.
The villagers of Kumudo are some of the poorest people in the world. Most subsist on less than two dollars per day, Lapetina said.
"The local population is 100 percent malnourished, and the river was very polluted. [The] use of modern equipment was not feasible due to the locale," McEldowney said.
He added that "what the students lacked in experience, they made up for in creativity. I never saw a serious flaw in their design."
However, unanticipated circumstances required EWB to alter their design and extend their commitment.
"Hydraulic conditions forced us to reevaluate what we can and cannot do last year. We are planning to take a two-week trip during winter break to reassess the two original sites and examine another project for the summer," McEldowney said.
Lapetina attributes the growth of EWB over the past year to an influx of funding for the University chapter. Aside from the generosity of individual alumni and academic departments, sponsors include the Princeton Institute for International Regional Studies, Princeton Prospect Foundation, and the Princeton Environmental Institute.
Other chapters have turned to undergraduates for financial support.
"The chapter at the University of Colorado at Boulder has been very successful in drawing in the participation of the student body. They had a student-led initiative to collect a dollar a student for their chapter. At a school with 40,000 students that helps out a lot," Lapetina said.
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