Engineers Without Borders (EWB)
Members of MIT Engineers Without Borders, Spring 2018.
Mission
EWB is a non-profit that partners with people from low income countries around the globe, and works with them to find solutions that will improve quality of life in their communities. As part of the MIT Engineers Without Borders chapter, a student-run organization, we are learning practices that will make us lifelong change-makers. Our team is a diverse group of engineers, scientists, leaders, designers, humanitarians and innovators that's working together to create a better world, one community at a time. For more info, visit ewb.mit.edu.
Background
Before I entered college, I knew I had an interest in Engineers Without Borders because I wanted to apply my science and math skills to help those who lacked access to basic resources. When I came to MIT my freshman year, I joined MIT's chapter of EWB and immediately got involved in the project -- helping an MIT grad run a moringa seed processing business in Ghana that helped farmers have a more stable source of income. The business was well-managed and successful, facilitating dozens of farmers to grow the tree and selling the oils to international markets. However, I was dissatisfied with our role in the project. The business was successful enough that we as students in the US were unable to make a significant contribution.
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Although I was dissatisfied with the project, I still believed in the mission of EWB so I became project lead of the club. After one semester and not much more progress, I proposed to the club president that we look into other projects for which we could make a greater contribution. Through lots of research and good luck, we ended up choosing the project we are working on now, in conjunction with the Boston Professional Chapter of EWB.
Our project site at a borehole with a hand pump attached in Mkutani, Tanzania. PC: Bill Clunie, Boston Professional Chapter EWB.
Project
Our current project is based in a village of 3000 people outside of Dodoma, Tanzania. The village, Mkutani, lacks access to clean drinking water. Currently residents can access water from a polluted river nearby, expensive prepackaged bottles, or a borehole over 2 km away with a frequently-broken hand pump. Our long term goal is to provide a convenient, reliable source of water to Mkutani villagers. To do so, we will install a solar-powered pump system to replace the current hand pump, which is difficult to operate and not robust. In the long term, we will build a distribution system to bring water distribution points closer to the village.
Video created for our upcoming implementation trip. Video credit: Christopher Eschler, MIT EWB Secretary
My Role
This year, I've taken on the role of club president. It has been an amazing experience to lead a team of 20 students on a new project. Since I've become president, we have made strides in the project and organized two trips to Tanzania (one for assessment in January 2018 and another for implementation in August 2018). We have also grown the team and gotten members more involved through challenging technical assignments and fun social events. In addition to being president, I work on the water technical team to perform hydraulic calculations to inform pump and tank specifications.