The Malawi travel team has news from our partner community:

Hi all,

Two weeks ago our team of three students and our professional mentor traveled to Southern Malawi to begin our involvement with the Solomoni Community in the Chileka Region. From our temporary base in Blantyre we worked with our NGO Partner, Joshua Orphan and Community Care (JOCC), to meet with community leaders and teachers, interview families, and collect data on local water sources.

The community of Solomoni is located less than ten miles from the center of Blantyre yet it is not connected to the water grid of the city, leaving residents to rely on the two boreholes within the community limits. In the past, they were able to use a network of fountains located around the primary and secondary schools that were fed by a wind powered water pump. However, after this system collapsed over a decade ago, residents have been forced to wait in long lines at the two useable wells.

Throughout our time in the community we were incredibly happy with the support they provided for us and are really looking forward to a longstanding partnership with both JOCC and the residents of the community. Over the next academic year, our organization at Tufts will be working hard to determine the best options to increase clean water access both at the primary and secondary schools as well as in the community as a whole.

We are nearing the end of our crowdfunding campaign with $1,445 raised, exceeding our original goal of $1,000 and making good progress towards our $2,000 stretch goal!!!

The Nicaragua team just returned from a successful assessment trip and the Malawi team will be traveling from August 15-24th, all thanks to your generous donations! The assessment trips will provide great foundation for us to develop and implement our clean water projects in the future. Without support from the Tufts community, none of our work would be possible.

If you would like to continue supporting our cause, feel free to go to our regular donation page here! For more updates regarding our projects, give us a like on Facebook here.

Thank you again for helping Tufts Engineers Without Borders!

With gratitude,

The EWB Fundraising Team

The Nicaragua Travel team has news from our partner community:

We’ve just returned from a successful assessment trip in Silvio Mayorga where we met with members of the community and collected information to begin the prototyping phase of our project. We discovered that many residents have access to clean water from a deep central well. The water tank connected to the pump, however, is not well supported, and many other residents still lack access to water from this well, either due to lack of water pressure or funding for an expansion of the distribution system.

Throughout the week, we conducted surveys with almost every household, tested various water sources for calcium and bacteria, and mapped out the town’s wells and water distribution system. Through all of our work, we got to know the people of Silvio Mayorga, and appreciated their kindness and openness to a group of relative strangers, struggling to make themselves understood in Spanish.

Using the information we’ve collected, we can begin to formulate a solution that will best suit the needs of the community and that will be sustainable for years to come. We hope to return as soon as possible. Both we and the community are excited and determined to improve clean water access in Silvio Mayorga. Beyond that, we hope to continue our partnership once this project is completed.

Picture 1 - Group shot after our final town meeting - from left to right, our mentor Justin, Silvio Mayorga’s pastor Don Carlos, Vikram, Wei Han, Darling (Esterlina), Jen, Doña Maria Josefa, and Doña Josefa

Picture 2 - The church well, with the pump and tower/tank structure installed over it

Picture 3 - The group testing one of the small private wells in the community - from left to right, Justin, Wei Han and Vikram

We have exciting news! An anonymous donor has agreed to challenge match the next $1,000 of donations! What this means is that for every dollar donated to our campaign, this donor will also donate a dollar, essentially doubling your impact on our project! For this reason, Tufts Crowdfunding has generously agreed to extend our campaign for another week, so you have until May 27th to donate!

Our stretch goal is $2,000. This additional funding will help pay for travel costs for our next trips to Malawi and Nicaragua next summer. Tufts Engineers Without Borders is embarking on a five-year commitment with both of these communities, and your support will enable us to implement important clean water access projects in both Malawi and Nicaragua, such as a borehole, water distribution system, or rainwater catchment system.

Our trips to Malawi and Nicaragua this summer are only the beginning, and we would love your continued support in this endeavor. Your donation today will be matched, dollar-for-dollar, going twice as far for our work in these two partner communities.

Here is an update from the travel team (Vikram, Jennifer, and Wei Han) about their plans for their week long trip:

The residents of Silvio Mayorga are hoping to improve access to clean water in their community. Several years ago, a well was drilled, but no pump was installed, forcing members of the community walk long distances for clean water. While the community has recently worked to install a pump and a tank, these systems are unstable, and the community still lacks a water distribution system. Three of our members are about to embark on a week-long assessment trip to Nicaragua. Throughout the week, we will be working with our partner NGO (Non-Governmental Organization), La Reserva Silvestre Quelantaro, to get to know the community and the intricacies of their water access needs. We will be conducting surveys about water access and community health with many members of the community. We will also run hardness and pathogen tests on various water sources in the area and map the land around the water sources.We’ll bring this information back with us to Tufts to begin designing and prototyping a solution for the community.

Stay tuned for their post trip update!

Our Malawi travel team will be flying to Blantyre Airport in Malawi in August! From there they will travel to the Solomoni Community about an hour west of the city. They will be working with Joshua Orphan and Community Care, the Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) that we are partnered with, to improve clean water access for the community. Thanks to your incredible support, we can send these members on the trip at no personal cost! Meet Elizabeth Bender, Rory Buckman, and Dylan Jones!

Elizabeth Bender

Position and Group: Chapter President, East Africa

Bio: Elizabeth is a junior studying biomedical engineering. She has been part of the East Africa group since her freshman year and has been on Exec Board since her sophomore year. In addition to being a part of Tufts EWB she does research in the biomedical engineering department and is a captain of the Tufts Club Women’s Club Lacrosse team. Elizabeth is excited about the future of Tufts EWB and their new projects in partner communities in Malawi and Nicaragua.

Rory Buckman

Position and Group: Project Leader, East Africa

Bio: Rory is sophomore Civil Engineering major with a planned Geology minor. In addition to being a part of Tufts’ EWB chapter he runs on the school’s Cross-Country and Track teams as well as being an Eco-Rep through the Office of Sustainability. In his free time he like swimming, cycling, and running and wants to pursue a career in Water Resources or Geotechnical Engineering.

Dylan Jones

Position and Group: Sophomore Rep, East Africa

Bio: Dylan is a sophomore Civil Engineering and History double major and has been with EWB since his freshmen year. He occupies his time outside EWB on the cross-country and track teams, in the DeWick Dining Hall, and watching Jeopardy. He is involved in EWB because he has an interest in the world beyond Massachusetts and would like to find engineering solutions for rural communities.

Thank you for your generous donations! Stay tuned for more updates on the Nicaragua Travel Team!

We reached our goal!!

Thanks to your generous donations, we have reached our goal of raising $1000 in only 12 days! Without you, none of our work would be possible. This means a lot to us, and we are truly grateful for your support. However, our mission to help bring clean water to our communities is only just beginning.

The money we have raised so far will go towards funding our assessment trips this summer to Nicaragua and Malawi. This will allow us to continue to grow our partnerships with these communities for the next five years as we work to implement clean water solutions. Moving forward, we will continue developing our designs in the communities by planning return trips, purchasing materials, and constructing our projects. By the end of our projects, we hope to have implemented sustainable solutions that will continue to serve our partner communities for years to come.

Now that we have reached our original goal, we are reaching further! We’re doubling our goal to $2000 to fund our future implementation and monitoring trips. This funding will go towards materials for our projects, such as the items necessary for boreholes, pumps, or filters. These materials will be dependent on the results of our assessment trips. None of our work would be possible without your generosity, and we hope you continue your support. Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions or would like to know more about how your donations are helping our partner communities.

Thank you for supporting our fundraising campaign for assessment trips to Nicaragua and Malawi this summer! Our Latin America travel team will be flying to Nicaragua on May 13th, and will be staying for six days. We would love to introduce the members who will be able to travel to the community at no personal cost thanks to your support:

Vikram Krishnamachari

Position and Group: Project Leader and Travel Team Member, Latin America

Bio: Vikram is a sophomore studying mechanical engineering.  He has been a project leader since January 2017.  Outside of EWB, Vikram performs South Indian (Carnatic) music on the keyboard and serves as a Pantry Manager at the Centre Street Food Pantry. He is also an engineering tour guide for Tufts Admissions.

Wei Han Lim

Position and Group: Travel Team Member and PMEL for Latin America

Bio: Wei Han is a sophomore majoring in chemical engineering with a minor in Spanish and has been a part of EWB since his first year. He believes that access to clean water is one of the most important global issues of our time and is glad to be part of the solution in a small but meaningful way. Additionally, he will serve as a Junior Class Representative for the Tufts chapter of AIChE next year. In his free time, he enjoys reading, writing, singing, working on graphic design, and seeing performances in Boston.

Jennifer Sohn

Position and Group: Travel Team Member for Latin America and Co-Treasurer for Tufts EWB

Bio: Jen is a sophomore Biochemistry major with a passion for human health, clean water, and communication, especially in Spanish. She joined EWB to explore the intersection between public health and STEM disciplines. When she’s not working on the EWB project in Nicaragua, she can be found singing with Tufts Chamber Singers or kicking it on the Tufts Taekwondo Team. In the future, she hopes to attend medical school.  

We’re extremely excited to begin the next chapter of our Nicaragua project and look forward to sending our other travel team to Malawi later in August. As a friend of our chapter, we will keep you updated as our projects progress.