Guatemala
Over the summer, a few students were able to travel to Guatemala for the assessment of our project in Chi Chokon, the implementation of our project in Chirijuyu, and the check-in with our past project in Paraxaj. Overall, the team had a great experience meeting the leaders of this community and getting hands-on experience on all aspects of an engineering project. During this trip, much development was made to implement the water distribution system in Chirijuyu and after the trip, the project is very close to completion. In Chi Chokon, students were able to learn from professional engineers how to assess the feasibility of a project and data collection practices. They were also able to meet with members of the community to discuss the state of the current water distribution system and their needs when it comes to designing and implementing a new one.
East Africa
The East Africa group has worked over the summer to get started on and submit the team application required to apply to a new project in Malawi. We are planning on partnering with FreshWater Project International (FPI) to volunteer our ingenuity and passion towards helping St. Pius Primary School in the Magomero district to establish access to clean water and hygienic latrines. Over the course of 18 months, we aim to assess the schools current situation, brainstorm potential solutions, refine our ideas and consult with professionals about our solutions, and implement these solutions.
We are also finalizing the hand-over process for our project in Filakit, Ethiopia, to an engineering non-profit in Ethiopia that will finish the water distribution project that started being implemented in 2019.
Local
This past summer the Local Project group partnered with the Urban Farm & Garden Alliance & Ujaama Place to work on adding improvements to the Victoria Community Garden in the Rondo neighborhood of St. Paul. Components of the project worked on this summer included: a rainwater catchment system, new benches, two wheelchair accessible garden boxes constructed with cedar and corrugated metal, and a permeable and level clover seeded path. The rainwater catchment system that was designed collects water from 576 ft2 of roofing, stores it in 375 gallon containers. From there, a pump is used with hoses to give the right water pressure! In the coming months, we will be constructing a pergola sitting area that we’ve been working on designing for the past year.
Over the past year, in collaboration with a section of the EWB Minnesota professional chapter, improvements to the community space of the Division of Indian Work through the design of a composting system, a rainwater catchment system and a solar collection system. This upcoming year we are going to continue developing relationships with UFGA and other local community organizations to continue community garden projects.
