Engineers Without Borders

It's taken me far too long to post this but I've found myself with some time on my hands so this has turned into the perfect opportunity to tell you about an organization I'm a part of. We're called Engineers Without Borders, though the chapter I belong is is EWB-Houston Central.

Although we're not affiliated with the much more well known Doctors Without Borders, we do share a common goal: improving the lives of those less fortunate than us around the world. In our case, we do it through improvements in community infrastructure, whether it be building a school house, providing a means for energy production, or digging a well. We're not taking huge steps in changing the world but we do what we can, one village at a time.

We're currently involved in a variety of projects, the most pressing at this time (on the national level) is tsunami reconstruction. As you can imagine, these projects involve rebuilding the communities that were damaged/destroyed by the tsunami in Southeast Asia last December. But that's just one of the projects.

We are also working towards the construction of a retaining wall for a village outside the capitol of El Salvador. It's not very glamorous but to the people who can't travel on the road during the rainy season because half of it has eroded down the hillside, it's an important project.

Closer to my heart (because it involves power tools) is the construction of an windmill turbine.

The most impressive thing about this windmill is the fact that most of it was constructed in someone's living room. The impetus for constructing this windmill is to come up with alternative ways to produce electricity. When EWB goes into communities for this purpose, they typically install solar panels or gas-powered generators. The problem arises when these devices break. These communities will most likely not have the technology to repair a solar cell. The generator is mechanical enough where the village might have the resources to do some work on it. But then there's the issue of supplying fuel, which may be hard to come by and expensive. The theory behind the windmill is that it's technologically simple and maintenance costs are small or non-existant. Sounds like a good solution to me. Of course, windmills need wind so this type of device isn't appropriate for every location. That's in addition to the fact that we still need to determine if this type of electrical generation is adequate for a community's needs. It's a work in progress but it gives us a chance to get our hands dirty and actually build something.

Like any non-profit organization, we are in desperate need of money. If you're interested in making a donation (it's tax deductable) you can go here and make sure you specify the Houston-Central chapter. Or you can go to fundable.org and play a little donation game.

This really wasn't meant to be a plea for money, as I tend to shy away from hitting up my friends (yes, you are all my friends) for donations. My main intent was to make everyone aware that an organization like this exists, and chapters can be found around the country. If you are an engineer, or anyone with any kind of skill (financial, marketing, fundraising, etc.) and would like to be involved, please visit the EWB-USA site and find out how you can participate. It's a great organization with a great vision and the more people that get involved, the more we can make a difference in the world.

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Ok Sara, I did it. Now get off my back.