EWB Newsletter

1. ISSUE
ENGINEERS
02
How to Get Involved
• Come check out one of our general meetings.
WITHOUT
BORDERS
STUDENT CHAPTER
SPRING
2013
EWBUCLA
We meet on Tuesday nights during the school year, from 6:15pm-7pm in Engr IV 38-138. We will go over some general
club topics, then split up into project groups. If it is your first time, just talk to Jonathan, the president , after the meeting
and he will answer any of your questions.
this issue
• Become a member of Engineers Without Borders USA.
Mission, Vision, & Past Projects P.1
Help make a difference by becoming part of a nationally renowned group of volunteers that partner with those in need
CONTACT
Guatemala Water Project P.2
around the world. Our members are building bridges and reliable shelters; they are working with the communities to
access clean water and electricity and are utilizing their education and skill sets abroad. Become a member and change
PRESIDENT
Jonathan Lim
a life! What are you waiting for? Get involved with Engineers Without Borders USA today!
ewbucla@gmail.com
HTTP://SEAS.UCLA.EDU/EWB
Thailand Schoolhouse Project P.6
Visit http://www.ewb-usa.org/get-involved/membership for more details.
• Consider being a sponsor for any of our sustainable projects.
Civil and Environmental Engineering Department
420 Westwood Plaza
5732 Boelter Hall
Los Angeles, CA 90095
Nicaragua S.E.D. Project P.4
OUR MISSION
Your financial support plays an integral role in helping us see our plans into action. Whether you are part of the Bruin
family, a trusted friend, or a corporate supporter, you can help us MAKE A DIFFERENCE. Our students take on the
entire project, from conception, all the way through assessment, design, construction, and follow-up. Now we need your
support to help us continue the effort. Credit card donations allocated to the University of California LA Chapter can be
made online at http://ssl.charityweb.net/ewbusa/. Checks written to "EWB-USA" can be mailed to the address below.
Indicate on the memo line whether you would like your tax-deductible donation to go to a specific project or to our gen-
EWB Testimonials P.7
EWB-USA supports
community-driven
How to Get Involved P.8
development programs
worldwide by collaborating
with local partners to design
Helping communities meet their basic human needs.
and implement sustainable
engineering projects, while
EWB-USA
creating transformative
Engineers Without Borders USA (EWB-USA) is a
experiences and
nonprofit humanitarian organization established to
responsible leaders.
eral chapter fund and allocated to where it is needed most.
support community-driven development programs
worldwide through partnerships that design and
implement sustainable engineering projects. EWBUSA members, comprised of professionals and
OUR VISION
students of engineering or other disciplines, work
with local communities and NGOs in over 45 coun-
A world in which the
communities we serve have
Civil and Environmental Engineering Department
420 Westwood Plaza
5732 Boelter Hall
Los Angeles, CA 90095
the capacity to sustainably
tries around the world on projects such as water,
renewable energy, sanitation and more. EWB-USA
has grown from little more than a handful of mem-
meet their basic human
needs, and that our
members have enriched
bers in 2002 to over 12,000 members today and
has over 350 projects worldwide. EWB-USA main-
global perspectives through
tains over 250 dedicated student and professional
the innovative professional
chapters, and has touched the lives of more than
educational opportunities
one million people.
that the EWB-USA
Chocantiry, Guatemala
Nor Lae, Thailand
Rain Harvest & Water Distribution Project.
Forming the base for a storage system in 2012.
Schoolhouse Project, first phase
EWB-UCLA STUDENT CHAPTER
Here at UCLA, we are furthering the EWB-USA
mission one project at a time. In 2005, we helped
start a health clinic in Samli, Thailand. In 2006, we
set up a sustainable computer lab for a children’s
center in Jocotenango, Guatemala, and donated
computers to an orphanage in Lira, Uganda. From
2007-2010, we built a retaining wall in Mexico, a
rainwater catchment system in Guatemala, a
schoolhouse in Thailand, and latrines in Nicaragua.
Today, we are working on a schoolhouse for a
program provides.
community in Las Breñas, Nicaragua, and finishing
Special thanks to the following
organizations for their support:
up our rainwater catchment system in Guatemala.
We are also in the process of re-opening work on
our schoolhouse project in Nor Lae, Thailand.
Kukra River, Nicaragua
Latrine Sanitation Project. Completed in 2009.
Above: laying the latrine foundation
Right: in front of the finished latrine.
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2. WHY ARE YOU INVOLVED WITH EWB?
Provide meaningful engineering and project
management experience
that is well rounded in
nature.
PROJECT
STATUS
PROJECT IMPACT
Number of persons affected
Directly: 168
28 Tanks Constructed
Each member has his or her own story behind why they are involved with Engineers Without Borders.
Maybe their reasons will inspire you to become an active member as well. Read on to find out more.
Momostenango, Guatemala
LOCAL NGO PARTNER
Left: Guatemala team members create the iron
frame for the above ground tank.
CassSito is a non-profit organization that helps to provide solutions and incentives to Guatema-
GUATEMALA RAINWATER CATCHMENT SYSTEMS
MOMOSTENANGO WATER PROJECT
lan communities to encourage
their children to attend and finish
their education all the way
THE NEED
EWB-UCLA RESPONSE
To support the local development of
in 2008, our team has completed
temala, appreciable rainfall occurs
the community, our project’s goal is
five phases of the project, fund-
The total cost of the project for
only six months out of the year.
to provide families in Momostenango
raised, and constructed a total of 28
this year is $14,000.
When there is no rain, women and
with a reliable, constant source of
ferrocement water tanks.
children must walk several kilome-
clean, drinkable water during the dry
ters a day, sometimes on multiple
season.
Fourth Year
Materials Science
& Engineering
Suzanne
Brown
Fifth Year
Civil Engineering
“Of all of my experiences in college, EWB
has been one of the most personally and
professionally rewarding. I have had the
opportunity to be creative, to work on projects I care about, and to use my degree
to help others. “
Since the project construction’s start
In the town of Momostenango, Gua-
David Ly
“I’ve been involved with EWB since my freshmen year
here at UCLA and I was initially drawn to the club because it provided students with an opportunity to help
less fortunate people in places of need. It also was a
great way to apply what we, as engineers, learn in the
class room to real life situations. As I got more involved and traveled with the club, I fell in love with
what we were doing. I got to see the payoff of all our
fundraising and hard work in Guatemala and how dramatically we can change the lives of others. I’m incredibly grateful for the opportunities and experiences
that EWB has provided me and I plan on continuing
my involvement with EWB as a professional engineer
to continue giving back to communities abroad.”
through high school.
PROJECTED COSTS
PROJECT & TRAVEL TEAM
- Project Lead -
- Engineering & Technical Lead AJ Rieck
sumption. This daily chore of finding
- June Travel Team -
water causes children to miss school
Maanya Condamoor
and women to leave their homes.
Jing Gong
Communication with the local area
sixth phase in summer of 2013 of
first began in 2006, when a team
building additional water collection
from EWB-UCLA traveled to meet
systems in the community. As we
with community-elected representa-
want to further promote the local
tives,
streams that are unsuitable for con-
sustainability of this project, we are
water
professionals,
local
Elynor Zhou
The water they do retrieve is not
NGOs, and contractors about creat-
beginning to reduce our direct in-
Claire Hirashiki
safe for consumption. There is a
ing a sustainable solution.
volvement in the community and are
Kent Yang
large amount of pathogenic bacteria
Niru Senthilkumar
- Professional Mentor -
and organic contaminants that lead
to gastrointestinal diseases.
This
Tony Antich, P.E.
sickness cripples a family’s ability to
perform work. Children become too
sick to attend school, and parents
become too ill to care for their family
or go to work and earn money.
Joey
Yan
Third Year
Civil Engineering
The travel team plans to complete a
trips, to collect water from rivers and
David Ly
FUTURE WORK
“It has genuinely been a pleasure seeing projects through their implementation phases in
the past three years that I have been a part of Engineers Without Borders. EWB has made
my college career more fulfilling by allowing me the opportunity to apply the knowledge
and skills that I’ve learned in my classes to meaningful projects. I enjoyed working hand in
hand with a local community and nonprofit organization in Guatemala, while emphasizing
the sustainable idea of “teaching a man to fish” versus simply giving him a fish. Through
this student-run organization, I have also met many motivated, ambitious peers whom I
regard as my family. Together with EWB, we are empowered to literally build for a brighter
future. Great people, life-changing projects, wonderful times.”
currently putting together an instrucWe’ve developed a rainwater collection system consisting of a 7,500liter concrete water tank that collects
rainwater routed from the houses’
roofs.
These
water
tanks
hold
enough water to supply a family with
more than a third of their clean drinking water for the entirety of the dry
season.
tion manual with integrated transla-
Diego
RubalcavaAlvarez
Masters Student
Civil Engineering
“When you spend time with EWB-UCLA, you
get exposure to many aspects of the engineering world. Working with the Guatemala
team, I spent some of my first two years helping to edit and translate a construction manual for the rainwater harvesting systems. At the
end of my second year, I had the privilege of
traveling to Guatemala to meet with the community and actually see how our work on the
instruction manuals had helped them build
rainwater storage units. I have enjoyed all of
my time with EWB-UCLA, learning from the
big-hearted, creative, and friendly people that
the club attracts.”
tions, pictures, and diagrams. Our
local partner NGO and the community’s elected representatives have the
framework set for expansion. Expansion will not only provide more
households with drinkable water but
will also help build economic resources within the community.
“Engineers Without Borders has been one
of the most rewarding experiences for me
as an undergraduate student at UCLA.
Having been involved for 3 years, I’ve been
able to see how the UCLA chapter has
grown and changed into something that we
can all be proud of. The people of this entire organization are so hard-working and
dedicated to the cause, and they continue
to inspire me everyday. Engineers Without
Borders truly encompasses the goal that
every practicing engineer should strive for:
making the world a better place.“
Lauren Wu
Fourth Year
Civil Engineering
Eugene Del Valle, P.E.
Ph. D. Candidate
Structural Engineering
“It is easy to get jaded living in the United States. Life
here is quite comfortable and it is easy to over exaggerate personal problems until stepping into someone
else’s shoes and seeing how they live. Although there
is poverty no matter where you live, participating with
Engineers without Borders (EWB) gave me the opportunity and challenge to utilize my engineering skills for a
country/community not familiar to me. On a more local
level, participating in EWB has been very rewarding.
Teaching fellow members who are willing to step up to
the challenge and learn more about building construction, has been one of my best experiences in UCLA.
Their passion and energy to help complete strangers
motivates me and gives me confidence in what I do.
Finally our mentors are more than willing to teach us
how to become better engineers as well as encourage
us to become better people. One person cannot solve
all the world’s problems, but hopefully our collective
effort through EWB nudges the world towards a more
positive direction.”
WHAT’S YOUR STORY?
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3. EWB UCLA
PROJECT
STATUS
TRIP RECAP
Partnering with
local communities to
design and implement
sustainable engineering
solutions.
PROJECT IMPACT
Number of persons affected
Directly: 60
Indirectly: 100
INTO EL RAMA
Las Breñas, Nicaragua
LOCAL NGO PARTNER
FUNCOS (Nicaragua division of
We took a 6 hour bus ride from
Left: Mentor Paul explaining the schoolhouse
design to the local community
Sustainable Harvest
Managua to El Rama.
International) is a non-profit
organization stationed in
Bluefields, Nicaragua. They
NICARAGUA PROJECT S.E.D.
NICARAGUA SANITATION, EDUCATION, & DEVELOPMENT
(S.E.D.) PROJECT
Budget Breakdown Schoolhouse Phase : FOUNDATION & SUPERSTRUCTURE
Schoolhouse Materials
provide local farming families
with both the proper training and
THE NEED
the necessary tools to preserve
The team met with the community
The team dug out drainage channels
Currently, many of the children of
members of Las Breñas Sector III
along the edges of the excavation
Las Breñas only attend school for
regarding construction and project
site to account for the rainy weather
half the year, if at all. The heavy
guidelines. The team also met with
that would come before the next
rains and the long distance to the
FUNCOS directors to discuss the
return trip.
nearest schoolhouse prevent them
design and construction logistics of
schoolhouse project is $35,000
from getting their education. Our
the schoolhouse. A centralized loca-
for completion. We have an
project’s goal is to provide the
tion was chosen based on the com-
children access to education by
munity’s
giving them the means and ensuring
and
their safety.
tests were taken. In
the natural forests, while helping
them overcome poverty.
PROJECTED COSTS
The total cost of the
immediate need of $19,000 to
build the schoolhouse structure.
PROJECT TEAM
- Project Leads -
EWB-UCLA RESPONSE
Dennis Nguyen
- Engineering & Technical Lead Gerard Convento
and
assessment
phase
of
the
schoolhouse began.
- Design Advisor -
3D Drawing of
Schoolhouse Design
Eugene Del Valle, P.E.
- Professional Mentors -
second
this year to begin construction on the
soil
assessment
schoolhouse founda-
“It’s refreshing to see
how much the
community appreciates
and enjoys life despite
lacking the basic
comforts that we take
for granted in the US.”
trip and surveyed the
-Warren Kadoya
Travel Team Member
December 2011
proposed schoolhouse
site. The team then
tion. There is still a
need
for the
pur-
chase of
materials
such
concrete,
as
construction
Your
tools.
partnership
forward with the project.
Jenny Jirschefske, P.E.
design
plans
were
redesigned and updated to reduce
Side
Front
Jorge Rivera, P.E.
the amount of manual labor, while
still strictly adhering to U.S. building
Ryan Sandstrom, P.E.
guidelines.
The community members eagerly
await the start of construction. This
year, all of us hope to be one step
From El Rama, we took a 2
Contingency
Rate
20%
25%
20%
20%
25%
20%
25%
25%
Price Per
Unit
$200
$10
$0.60
$1.25
$4.00
Units
Needed
30 containers
75 bags
4000 lbs
14000
1200 sq ft.
Estimated
Cost
$7,200
$21,875
$600
$2,160
$625
$800
1
$600
1
--Schoolhouse Materials Sub Total
$1,000
$750
$1,000
$35,210
Price Per
Units
Unit
Needed
$800
8 travelers
$100
8 travelers
$65
8 travelers
$120
8 travelers
Travel & Logistics Sub Total
Estimated
Cost
$7,040
$960
$650
$1,104
$9,754
Travel & Logistics
Item Description
Airfare
In-Country Bus/Boat
Taxis/Drivers/Gas
Visas, Innoculations, Insurance
Contingency
Rate
10%
20%
25%
15%
hour boat ride to Bluefields, and
spent the night at FUNCOS.
INTO LAS BREÑAS
During a 9 hour boat ride into
the community, we capsized!
SCHOOLHOUSE SITE
Housing & Accommodations
Item Description
Lodging in Managua, at FUNCOS hqtrs
Food at Project Site (rice & b eans)
would help us move
began excavation with the help of
schoolhouse
Paul Friedlander, P.E.
Tools and Equipment
Transportation
Contracted Labor
cement, and various
the local community members. The
Mike Dadik, P.E.
Aldrin Orue, P.E.
preliminary
travel team made a
In June 2010, the implementation
The travel team plans to return later
preference,
December 2011, the
Charlotte Insull
FUTURE WORK
Item Description
Concrete
Cement ($10 / 96 lb bag) @ 75 bags
Rebar ($60 / 100 lb, 3/8") @ 4000 lb
Concrete Masonry Units
Metal Deck + Roof Beams
INTO BLUEFIELDS
Contingency
Price Per
Units
Rate
Unit
Needed
10%
$20
8 travelers
10%
$20
8 travelers
Housing & Accommodations Sub Total
We greatly appreciate any donation you could offer us. We guarantee
that 100% of your donation will be put towards our project. Engineers
Without Borders- USA is a registered 501 (c)3 organization.
All donations are tax deductible.
Estimated
Cost
$176
$176
$352
The community members
helped us dig out the topsoil.
Nicaragua Project Need
Total Cost + Contingency
Am ount Raised
Current Need
$58,322
$39,113
$19,209
A LOOK INTO THE COMMUNITY
closer to seeing the schoolhouse
completed for the children.
*Drawings made by Albert Tang, fourth year
Mechanical Engineering student, Travel Team
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5

4. EWB UCLA
Nor Lae, Thailand Schoolhouse Project
TRIP RECAP
EWB-UCLA has established an on-going relationship
with this Northern Thailand community since 2004.
PROJECT PROGRESS
EWB’s Guatemala travel team
completed two more tanks
during their June Implementation Trip this past summer.
GUATEMALA WATER PROJECT
Budget Breakdown Monitoring Phase : WATER TANKS
Tank Materials
THE NEED:
In 1984 the Palaung people of Loi Lae, Burma (aka
Myanmar), fled from the increasing wartime pressures
and headed towards Northern Thailand. After their 10day journey these approximately 70 families established
the village of Nor Lae on the Thai side of the Thai/
Burmese border. Burmese refugees do not return to
Burma for fear of retaliation. Also, because they are not
PROJECT
STATUS
PROJECT IMPACT
Number of persons affected
Directly: 70
Indirectly: 280
Thai citizens, they receive minimal or no government
assistance and often resort to illegal or environmentally
harmful methods to support themselves. Therefore, the
community was left without access to a decent schooling structure or system.
LOCAL NGO PARTNER
Doi Ang Khang Royal Project
Item Description
On Campus Prototype Tank
Materials for 8 Tanks
Contracted Labor
high-quality work elsewhere in the country. In 2008, the project was opened and a schoolhouse was built. The
PROJECT TEAM
capacity of the Nor Lae school is up to 100 preschool-age students. Presently about 50 students ages four
- Project Leads -
through eight are being educated in the school. The village has utilized the school’s extra space as a community
Connor Thompson
center and to store medical supplies. The school provides the only early educational opportunity for the expand-
Kelsey Wittels
A completed above ground
water catchment tank.
CONSTRUCTION
Travel & Logistics
Item Description
Airfare
Ground Transportation
Miscellaneous
Visas for 8 Travelers
Spring
Preparation
$5,500
-$200
Summer
Implementation Estimated Total
-$5,500
$600
$600
$300
$500
$80
$80
Travel & Logistics Sub Total
$6,680
Housing & Accommodations
THE EWB-UCLA RESPONSE:
EWB-UCLA was recruited to assist the residents of Nor Lae by The Royal Project of Thailand after completing
Spring
Summer
Preparation
Implementation Estimated Total
$1,000
-$1,000
-$3,600
$3,600
-$1,000
$1,000
Tank Materials Subtotal
$5,600
Item Description
Lodging for 8 Travelers
Meals and Food
ing population of village. It enables the children of Nor Lae to integrate into the Thai education system. The long
We greatly appreciate any do natio n yo u co uld o ffer us. We
guarantee that 1
00% o f yo ur do natio n will be put to wards o ur
pro ject. Engineers Witho ut B o rders-USA is a registered 501(c)3
o rganizatio n.
term goal of the school is to provide early childhood education, therefore increasing the likelihood of the pursuit
A ll do natio ns are tax deductible.
Spring
Summer
Preparation
Implementation Estimated Total
-$450
$450
-$1,000
$1,000
Housing & Accommodations Sub Total
$1,450
Guatemala Project Need
Total Expenses
Amount Raised
Current Need
$13,730
$18,100
EWB team members begin
cementing the wire frame.
PROJECT SUCCESSES
The team found that families
that own a tank save 6 manhours a day during the dry
season and that their water
quality is safe for consumption
of higher education which improves the socio-economic situation for the Palaung hill tribe and surrounding community. The school also provides breakfast and lunch to the students.
A LOOK INTO THE COMMUNITY
FUTURE WORK:
EWB-UCLA plans to maintain a presence in the community to show our dedication to sustainability,
while keeping an eye on opportunities to enable further improvements in the quality of life for the
community, such as water-purification and a latrine system. Our next trip is planned for summer
2013 to provide repairs, maintenance and monitoring to ensure proper upkeep of the school and the
community.
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