Annual Gala!

http://ewbuidaho.wix.com/ewbuidaho

What: Join Engineers Without Borders University of Idaho Chapter for an evening of fine food, wine, and live music to support EWB-UI’s sustainable water supply project for the village of Chiwirapi, Bolivia. Meet the EWB-UI team, and learn more about our partnership with the people of Chiwirapi as we prepare to implement the first phase of the potable water supply project in June 2014. 

When: March 6, 2014, from 6:30-9:30 p.m.

Where: 1912 Center

Appetizers and Drinks: Maialina Pizzeria Napoletana

Dessert: Nectar/Bloom

Music:

·      BUCKINGHAM

·      Simbaland and the Exceptional Africans

Tickets: $20, available at the door or at Book People of Moscow

For more information: visit www.ewbuidaho.wix.com/ewbuidaho

Support Clean Water for Chiwirapi: EWB-USA's Year-End Matching Campaign

Hey everybody,

Check out our new year end matching campaign webpage.

https://ssl.charityweb.net/ewbusa/pfp/cleanwaterforchiwirapi.htm

You can read more about our collaboration with the people of Chiwirapi, Bolivia and the clean water supply system we are designing.

And any donations you make on this page between now and Jan. 15 will be matched 150% by EWB-USA's corporate partners! 

That means your donation accomplishes 50% more for clean drinking water for the people of Chiwirapi when you donate during the matching campaign.
 

If you want to donate by check, it needs to be accompanied by a matching campaign form (available on our facebook page under the files tab  http://www.facebook.com/groups/153643788025864/ )

 
 

Thank you for your support and interest in our partnership with the people of Chiwirapi.

 

- The EWB-UI Team

 

The EWB-UI 2012 assessment trip team with community members near a well in Chiwirapi, Bolivia.

 

From Moscow in the Palouse to Chiwirapi in the Altiplano of Bolivia

After several months of planning, fundraising, and getting shots, we have made our first trip to Chiwirapi, Bolivia! Our wonderful assessment crew consisted of Nate Suhr, Brian Zaladonis, Rachael Mckibbin, Kylie Jarvis, Hailey Woodruff, James Pearson and Fritz Fiedler (UIdaho Professor). 

This group of engineers (and one anthropologist!) spent five days in the community of Chiwirapi to begin developing a sustainable water plan and assessing the needs of the Quechua residents in this rural Bolivian village. 

Chiwirapi resides in the altiplano of Bolivia, 12,000 feet above sea level, six hours from La Paz and a short walk from Bolivar. Despite the close proximity, Chiwirapi is a nearly self-suffient village. The community of twenty-four households spreads along both sides of a river. The community sustain themselves on agriculture and animal husbandry. As you can imagine, reliable and clean water is incredibly important for Chiwirapi’s wellbeing. 

Upon arrival, it was evident that a clean and reliable water source has been a goal of the community for quite some time. The village landscape was littered with the skeletons of previous NGO attempts to find a solution for the community. For one reason or another, each system hasn’t been able to stay functional.  

The failed systems posed a daunting possibility to our own work with the community. BUT! Our assessment team went at their work with vigor and passion to survey the landscape, take water sample, and connect with the people of Chiwirapi to find solutions that would be sustainable with the environment and community’s resources. Our team spoke with members of the Chiwirapi community to hear their needs and work in collaboration with them to find a workable solution to implement with them on our next trip.

All in all, the trip was a definite success! Results of the water samples have recently come in and been assessed. Our team plans on talking with our in country contacts at Engineers In Action to relay the information to the people of Chiwirapi within the month.

On the road to Chiwirapi!

EWB President Naye Suhr conducting landscape surveys.

Taking water samples from Chiwirapi's current clean water source, a small well down river.

Our very technical and sophisticated surveying equipment. A stick with a bottle on top for survey targeting (aka, shooting lasers). Fritz and Afnan (EIA engineer) oversee this complicated procedure conducted by a highly trained child from Chiwirapi.

James Pearson collecting community information. He is in charge of assessing the community health and insuring our project is culturally sustainable. Luigi (the gentleman in orange) translated, Spanish into English.

All work and no Play?

“As a club, we've been working so hard to raise money for a community that we'd never even seen; to be able to put a face and a story to each person was incredible and has only increased my commitment to this club and this project.” Kylie Jarvis

From left to right: Afnan (EIA Engineer), Hailey Woodruff, Kylie Jarvis, Fritz Fiedler, Rachael McKibben, Celia (Cook from La Paz for the team), Nate Suhr, Brian Zaladonis, Luigi (Translator and EIA engineer), and James Pearson.

Chiwirapi, Here We Come!

Well, a lot has happened since the last time we blogged...let's just say that being full time engineering students doesn't leave nearly enough time to post updates as often as we'd like!  However, we have a LOT of new exciting developments!

First of all, the most exciting news: our group was APPROVED for our very first international project, a water sanitation and distribution system for the small village of Chiwirapi, Bolivia.  Chiwirapi is located in the poorest part of the poorest country in South America, and their need for a water sanitation system is great.  Disease and health problems coming from consuming unclean water is very common, as the Chiwirapi citizens must take their water from a river that contains pollutants from a larger city upstream.  We are excited to go on our first assessment trip in August 2012 to start testing the water, surveying, and getting to know the locals and their needs.  We will be partnered with this community for 5 years, and intend to do all that we can to provide them with both infrastructure and sustainable health practices that will improve their quality of life!

Now that the project is underway, the question of funding is becoming more and more important.  We have established a Fundraising Committee, and have been working hard all semester to put together our First Annual EWB-UI Gala event.  This will be a chance for local community members to come and see what we're all about, have the opportunity to donate to the group by purchasing event tickets and raffle tickets, and eat some tasty food donated by Sangria!  The event is scheduled for April 26th, and more details will be posted soon!

FUNdraising

EWB-UI is growing exponentially, and our fundraising efforts are growing with it! Our goal for the 2010-2011 school year is $10,000 and we are well on our way!!! Our second Biannual "Doughnut Day" Krispy Kreme FUNdraiser was a complete success! We sold 200 dozen which raised over $1000! This is a 33% increase from the 150 dozen that we sold last spring at our first Doughnut day!
The EWB UI holds biannual "Doughnut Day" on the Wednesday of dead week for the University of Idaho. Our group drives to Spokane to get our pre-ordered doughnuts at 4 am the morning of to ensure that the buyers get them as fresh as possible. We then sell them on campus and to local companies for $1 for one, $5 for half dozen, and $10 for a dozen. Together with the Applebee's Pancake Feed in October, we have raised over $1,200 dollars!
We are looking forward to continuing our fundraising efforts with our first annual EWB UI Gala Event in spring of 2012.


However, now is the time for the Annual EWB National Matching Campaign. For every penny we earn we will be matched 150% by EWB National's corporate sponsors. The match ends January 15th so we need your help now! What we would like you to do is go to the DONATE page and donate any amount, even $1 helps!! 
EWB USA gives $5,000 prize for the greatest number of donations no matter how small and another $5,000 prize for the most amount of money raised. So any little donation truly can help!! 

The Birth of a Blog

Well isn't this exciting, the birth of a baby blog! And how fitting for our organization in its infancy. 
But what IS Engineers Without Borders you may ask, and what do we do?
Well, as EWB USA's mission statement says,
"EWB-USA supports community-driven development programs worldwide by collaborating with local partners to design and implement sustainable engineering projects, while creating transformative experiences and responsible leaders."
And how do we do that? 
We, as an EWB student chapter, have committed 5 years at minimum to the community we have partnered with in Chiwirapi, Bolivia, and the local Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) Engineers In Action. Our project will proceed in the general outline as follows:
   1. Assessment Trip the Chiwirapi to have take water samples, survey the land, and most importantly have a conversation with the community members about what they would like to see, and what resources are available
   2. Design team prepares a solution given these facts back at the University of Idaho
   3. An Implementation Trip to implement the design
   4. Consequent trips to educate the community as to how to repair what we implemented on either own, and to do other projects as requested by the community


Now, as is generally appropriate for a first blog, let us review a quick history of our organization!
EWB-UI was started by in January 2011 by Aaron Lewis, a former University of Idaho graduate student in Civil Engineering. A statue is of Aaron is pending (in our minds) due to his patience when dealing with the prolonged struggle with U of I's legal department over establishing the club. Shortly after becoming an official U of I club, the first Officers were elected as follows:
     President- Nate Suhr
     Vice President- Mary O'Brien
     Treasurer- Am Grewal
     Secretary- Hailey Woodruff
     Idaho State Representative- Donald Lewis


Moving at a pace previously known only to the famed Speedy Gonzales, EWB- UI quickly chose a water treatment and delivery project in Chiwirapi, Bolivia, and was approved by EWB national in September 2011! 
Now the challenges of the club include choosing essential personnel for our first Assessment Trip in late August 2012, fundraising for the trip, and raising community awareness through outreach and involvement.