Building bridges and friendships
| Published: 01/30/2013 |
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Imagine living in a village without a reliable source for fresh water, or living in a remote village without access to food or health care during the rainy season. In the U.S., what we struggle to imagine is what many people in Guatemala face every day. MSOE’s Engineers Without Borders is a student organization that aims to improve the quality of life of those in underprivileged areas by implementing economical and sustainable engineering projects. “EWB is a great organization for people who are looking to serve others with the technical abilities they learn in school,” said Marly Trier, an MSOE sophomore who is double majoring in architectural engineering and construction management. “I love being a part of this organization because I am surrounded by other like-minded people who genuinely want to help improve others’ lives. The projects we work on are in Guatemala, so it’s nice to able to practice my Spanish language skills as well.” |
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Left photo: Andrew Hillstrom, Alfredo Perez '12 and Marly Trier with Guatemalan children in 2012. |
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EWB-MSOE members are busy preparing for trips to Guatemala the last week of February. One group will travel to Chortiz to build protective enclosures around the shallow wells providing most of Chortiz’s potable water, and construct a tank and lavadero to minimize losses from overflow and inefficient use. They’ll ensure that the village council develops its own protocol for fair distribution of water in dry months. Dr. Willie Gonwa, assistant professor, and a professional engineering mentor will travel with the students and oversee their work, which came as the result of previous trips to the area. |
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 Dr. Willie Gonwa constructs a water tank. |
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"Designing and implementing water systems is a way I can serve others with the skills I am acquiring as a student at MSOE,” said Alli Zimont, biomolecular engineering junior. “My experience with EWB has motivated my school work more than I had anticipated.” A second group will travel with Dr. Doug Stahl, professor, and two Milwaukee professional engineer mentors. Their mission is to build a bridge in the Mayan village of Muculinquiaj that will link the village to the regional road system and the town of Joyabaj. The existing road is impassable when a small river rises during the rainy season, leaving residents without reliable access to marketplaces, health care and schools. |
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“I am most looking forward to working together with the local workers to construct this bridge that will greatly improve their access to the city, health care, school and other necessities,” said Trier. “While the main reason we work on these projects is to serve others by providing engineering solutions to real-world problems, I think us students get more back from them in return than what we could ever give.” In 2012 Trier and other students from EWB-MSOE visited the site to conduct final surveys and evaluation, and the students spent the past year completing their design. Their trip in February will focus on excavating bedrock and constructing the bridge abutments. A third group of students will return to Muculinquiaj in late March with Dr. Todd Davis, assistant professor, to finish the reinforced concrete vehicular bridge.
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| Left photo: Trier at the site of the bridge in Muculinquiaj. Right photo: Biagini traveling up the mountain on a donkey. |
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 Alli Zimont makes new friends. |
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Perez and Hillstrom complete the bridge layout survey at Muculinquiaj in 2012