Final Deliverable


Our group decided that our final project is to make a presentation to Engineers Without Borders in order for them to decide if they want to sponsor our group in returning to Nicaragua, and perhaps help us with a project we wish to pursue.  We are also in the process of making a video of our trip, and I plan on uploading it to my blog when it is completed.  Of our project options, the three that are most appealing to me is the free adult high school, the eco stoves, and the water filters.

There are many social aspects that could be addressed by the improvement of the free adult high school.  The high school was started by an NGO and it provides educational opportunities for those that are excluded from the public high schools, such as women who are pregnant or work during the day. The free high school enables a greater majority of the potential work force to become utilized, as well as the obvious benefits that result from greater education.

The eco stoves are beneficial to the women of the community because they are the ones who do the majority of the cooking. The eco stoves benefit the health of the household members as well because they cause much less smoke than the previous stoves.

The water filters provide the household members with a healthier and more efficient way of obtaining cleaner water.

I hope that Engineers Without Borders approves one of these projects, because I truly think that they will benefit the communities in Nicaragua. As I said in my earlier posts, the biggest issues of concern for me are education and health, and these projects would improve all these aspects.

I plan to take this class again next fall, so that hopefully my group can return to Nicaragua in order to actually start one of these projects. We are meeting with Engineers Without Borders next week to give them our final presentation, and we can only keep our fingers crossed that they will approve it.

Here is the website about the free high school for adults: http://sanjuandelsursistercityproject.wordpress.com/adult-education/

Going forward...


I have been home from Nicaragua for almost two weeks now and the next step of our project is to find an NGO or other organization to help us make our project more successful. We are having a meeting next week to determine what our ultimate project is going to be but for now we have a few ideas.

Our main idea is that we want to work with a group that is building a high school in Nicaragua. This project would be idea for our group because the engineers could help with the design of the building while the other arts and science students (including myself) can help create a curriculum for the students  that involves sanitation and/or women's health/rights.

Another option for our group is that we could potentially work for Engineers Without Borders, and hopefully get a grant from them or from Lehigh University so we could go back to Nicaragua and work building the high school or on another project chosen by EWB.

In my next post I will write about what our final decision is.