Engineers Without Borders visits La Fragosa

The ceramic water filter project and school water treatment system have been a great success so far in La Fragosa!  Even though this project will have significant health benefits for the community, what they still greatly need are sanitary latrines and a permanent potable water system.  This type of project requires tens of thousands of dollars and is beyond the fundraising capabilities of Kristi and me (even with assistance from ADEC and IRWA).

Ceramic Filter being used in one of the homes

Maybe a little paranoid about having their CTUs stolen, but better safe than tankless

We have been in contact with an Engineers Without Borders (EWB) student group from Lehigh University in Pennsylvania about pursuing a latrines and water system project in La Fragosa, and recently six representatives from this group made their first visit to the community.

First the students and one faculty adviser held a meeting with the community leaders (members of the patronato, junta de agua, and comité de salud).  The group informed the community leaders that the intention of this visit was to get to know the community so that EWB would be able to decide if the community would be a good fit for an EWB project after which they fielded questions from the community leaders.

Your Humble Narrator introducing EWB to the community leaders

In order to get to know the community the EWB students created a number of survey questions about demographics and community health then set out in two groups to visit every family in the community.  The group had two members on this trip with Spanish language skills so Kristi and I only needed to lend a hand occasionally.  Each survey team was guided by a community member.

Kristi translating for Paquito, one of the harder to understand community members

The sometimes shy community members welcomed the EWBer’s into their homes and seemed to make a great impression on the student group.

The next day we visited the community again so that Kristi and I could share a charla with students at the community school about the importance of clean, treated drinking water.  The kids were fantastic, participating with enthusiasm in each activity.  Hopefully, they learned something and were able to take that knowledge home to share with the rest of their families.

Student participation in one of our potable water educational activities

After our charla, the EWBer’s introduced themselves and shared their hope to bring a latrines and permanent potable water project to the community.  They also brought a small toy for each student.  They came up one toy short so one of the EWB members sacrificed a sweet little LED flashlight to fill in the gap.

Team EWB

Score!

We and the community are very grateful for EWB’s interest in pursuing a very worthy project in La Fragosa!

Which are cuter, puppies or kittens?