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Undergrads
Set Up
Honduran
Water System
Resident advisor Priscilla
Matos, W'08, protested that
she knew nothing about engineering
when a freshman
from her hall last year approached
her this September
saying she should join an
excursion to help set up a
new water system in a poor
Honduran village. Thomas
Macrina, W'09, E'09,
though, was insistent. The
group, Penn's chapter of
Engineers Without Borders
(PennEWB), needed her
Spanish skills, and he knew
Matos, whose mother came
from nearby El Salvador, was
looking for ways to work
with the disadvantaged.
So during fall break
in October, Matos, a
Wharton junior, and
Macrina, now a sophomore
in Wharton/
Penn Engineering's
Jerome Fisher Program
in Management and
Technology (M&T),
joined other students
in the second phase of
a project to bring more
sources of fresh water to
the 50-family interior village
of Terrerritos.
In May, the first
group of EWBers, some
M&T students, went to
Terrerritos and did the initial
work on setting up a
piping system to get water
to the village from a
spring about five kilometers
away. They set up a spring
box and collection box, did
much of the pipe-laying,
and began doing the technical
work to get the water
to the individual homes.
During the quick five-
day trip in October, the
next group checked the
work—some of which had
been done by villagers after
the initial EWB excursion
left—and refined the system.
Matos, in addition to
easing the communications
between the students and
the villagers, was able to
use her expertise—she has
a health care emphasis in
her Wharton program—
to try to find out whether
the new water system was
doing its job.
"We wanted to see if we
should do a third phase,
putting in flush pit latrines,"
said Matos. "The
villagers couldn't have them
before, since it is tough to
have toilets if you don't
have water. While we know
this would improve the
health of the community,
you don't want to do it
if the community doesn't
feel passionate about the
project. If the community
doesn't care, then they
wouldn't strive to build and
maintain the latrines."
Macrina said the community
input is not just important,
but essential.
"The goal of Engineers
Without Borders is to have
projects that improve quality
of life through sustainable
development," he said.
"The idea is that the villagers
can maintain these projects
themselves. We just
provide the help to get them
to that next level."
Matos said even the short
time in Terrerritos excited
her to do more, and to encourage
more Wharton students
to do the same.
"My two biggest passions
have been health care
and the Hispanic community,"
said Matos, who
grew up in South Florida
and did service projects in
the Dominican Republic
and Venezuela in her teens.
"I'm just fortunate Thomas
found me and pushed me
into going."
Macrina, who is from
upstate New York, said the
PennEWB is growing, with
about 80 members now, so
he expects many more projects
in the near future.
"You always hear about
the poor in the third
world," said Macrina.
"Going to Terrerritos is
putting a face to the name.
You realize they're people
who are not really different
than we are. Unfortunately,
they don't have the resources
we do, and that is where
we can help."
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