UNION COLLEGE, NEW YORK – A group of mechanical engineering students, led by professor Ron Bucinell, will spend their spring break in Boru, Ethiopia, hoping to tap a clean water source for the village’s 5,000 residents.
This will be the first official trip for the College’s chapter of Engineers Without Borders, a non-profit international humanitarian organization that partners with developing communities to improve their quality of life, primarily through the work of engineers and engineering students.
Rebecca Damberg-Mauser ’08 was instrumental in starting Union’s chapter in 2007-08. The group, which spent most of the year getting up and running, now numbers about 19 students.
The idea for the water project sprung from Tehtena Tenaw ’09, who was born in Ethiopia. When Tenaw, the president of Union’s EWB chapter, returned home for a wedding last summer to the town of Dese, about an hour from Boru, she met with the Ethiopian Water Authority and the elders of Boru.
Until about two years ago, the village, which consists primarily of farmers and institution workers earning a maximum of $50 a month, had been getting its water from the Momay Spring. But a construction project accidentally caused the spring, which is located under a school, to close.
To assist with the project, Union enlisted the expertise of CDM, a national engineering firm with an office in Latham, N.Y. Two engineers there, Paul Cabral and Roy Richardson, met regularly with students to discuss technical issues and provide training.
In Boru, Union’s team will dig test wells, examine water distribution possibilities and perform a health survey of the area. The group leaves Saturday, March 14, and returns two weeks later. Another trip is planned for December.
“Restoring the well will mean that children will no longer have to carry five gallon containers filled with water back to their village on a daily basis,” Bucinell said.
Joining Bucinell and Tenaw in Boru will be Julie Fehlmann ’12, Philip Lambert ’ll and Max Becton ’ll. Cabral, from CDM, also will accompany the group.
Students held a series of fundraisers to help pay for the cost of the trip, which is approximately $8,000; the College also contributed funds.
“This trip exposes students to the human side of engineering,” Bucinell said. “It helps college students see that they can make a difference globally.”
3 thoughts on “Students from New York's Union College head to Ethiopia”
Thanks guys,
This is a really human part of Engineering.
Boru-Dessie,or Wollo is the most forgotten region of Ethiopia.
No Derg, No Woyane has answered the urgent need of those people.
Shame of the Ethiopian rulers.
The crowning of the matter is Woyane took away the fertile land of Wollo(Raya, Kobo,etc.) to make Tigre bigger.
This is the selfishness of greedy Woyanes.
I wonder now those American engineering groups took attention to those deprived people.
I say do more, I will join you to support the innocent, kind and brave people of Wollo to have a clean water.
have u ever thought about why those ppl in the raya region are tigrinya speakers….we are taking land that belonged to us…so much land was taken from everywhere in previous govts….ppl are just taking it back…u rjust 2 blind to see the reality…so did the afars steal your land 2