This was a joint venture with Alverno College. This computer lab was installed at an all-girls school. The school needed a computer lab because growing up female in Cameroon does not allow one many opportunities to rise out of poverty. Learning to use a keyboard or an online computer dramatically impacts one’s ability to pursue employment.

The ESL Coordinator for the Learning Resource Center, Abigail Goelzer, led an initiative to install a computer lab in the Shugseb Nunnery. It is a Buddhist nunnery that houses Tibetan nuns in exile. The group consisted of the ESL Coordinator, her husband, two students, an alumni and the servant-leadership chair. It was a long journey for the group to get to the nunnery, it took four days from Milwaukee. The group learned a great deal about the life of Tibetans, living in Tibet, and outside of it. Now that the lab is in place the nuns can learn to use computers as part of their ongoing life as expatriates.

Matt Peterson heard about a community in Uganda’s need for a sunflower press through his church. Sunflowers grow easily in Uganda and the oil from the seeds can be pressed for oil. This could provide the community with a green and renewable source of fuel as well as a product they can sell. Matt traveled to Uganda in 2012 with a small group to pick the site for the building that will house the sunflower press. While there a computer kiosk was installed with a dozen refurbished laptops. Matt will return to Uganda next year to continue his work.

The MSOE student chapter of Engineers Without Borders conducted a soil investigation and final survey for a vehicular bridge on an access road. With a backhoe and local volunteers they excavated to bedrock to determine that construction is feasible on the steep and narrow gorge. More students will be traveling within the next year to construct the bridge.

Dr. Jung and Dr. Carriere team-taught a course in Latin American History. The course was so students could get credit for the work they were doing and could get more historical context before traveling. The students conducted research for a proposed above ground watering system. Students worked with select families and conducted surveys regarding their water needs. The information collected was given to EWB to examine the possibility of making this a future project.

Dr. Carriere created a class in African History to mirror the Latin American class that traveled to Guatemala. The class partnered with the non-profit organization Project Kenya to tour Kenya and lay the foundation for a water tank at Nyamome Primary School. The water tank will come to provide access to clean water – for the first time – to over 600 students. Students also helped install rainwater catchment systems that will capture the water to be collected in the tank.