05Mar 2022 by guest No Comments

Chaguarloma, Ecuador Project Update

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Throughout the past couple of years, EWB-RHIT has been working on a project to bring clean drinking water to Chaguarloma, Ecuador. Chaguarloma is home to around 35-40 families, located in the northwest region on Quito. Before the project began, members of the community had to walk 3.5 kilometers on a daily basis just to get clean water. During the first trip, which took place August 2018, EWB-RHIT conducted a social survey to understand the communities needs. Additionally, we conducted water testing and preliminary survey data. The social survey revealed that on average, each family spend 5 hours a day water! The team traveled to many surrounding springs to test the bacteria levels and flow rates to determine the best spring to source the water for the pipeline. Then, the team…
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29Nov 2017 by guest No Comments

Thank You Jed & Project Update

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Our technical mentor, Jed Holt, has traveled with us to Gomoa Gyaman on three implementation trips. Not only was he there for us when we needed last-minute design changes and kept us on task during the daily meetings, but he also created lasting relationships with the community and travel team members. To thank him for the time he has put into our chapter, members of past travel teams met Jed and his wife in Indianapolis for dinner. We all enjoyed good food and reminisced about our trips to Ghana with him. The EWB contract with the community of Gomoa Gyaman, which was signed at the beginning of our partnership in 2011, stated that we would continue our partnership for five years. The chapter also decided that the needs of the community of…
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03May 2017 by ewbrhit No Comments

Winter Implementation Trip to Ghana

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This February marked EWB-RHIT’s fifth trip to Gomoa Gyaman, Ghana. Eight students and one faculty mentor, split into two separate teams, traveled to the community. One team was in charge of assessing potential sites for future latrines and determining the ideal method of construction for the substructure. The other team implemented the superstructure for the second community latrine.  Prior to their arrival, one completed 12-stall community latrine and a second completed latrine substructure had been implemented by previous Rose-Hulman travel teams. The assessment team evaluated four potential sites.  The team first created a general map of the community to record the site and current latrine locations. At each site, the team tested the soil for permeability, determined soil size and quality, measured elevation changes, and made general observations.  Additionally, a…
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18Feb 2017 by ewbrhit

THE VOTES ARE IN!

Global News, Uncategorized
Help us welcome the new EWB officers for 2017-2018!   Co-Presidents: Rachel Broughton (JR, Engineering Physics) and Camille Blaisdell (JR, Biomedical) Engineering Managers: Zsolt Truckai (SO, Mechanical) Fundraising/Marketing Co-Managers: Namuunaa Nadmid (FR, Biomedical) and Cydney Ogan (FR, Mechanical) Treasurer: Andrew Snyder (JR, Civil) Secretary: Emma Brewer (FR, Biomedical)   The new officers will spend winter quarter training under the current officers to learn how to fill their new roles. They will officially take office in the spring. Congratulations to all the new officers!  
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12Oct 2016 by ewbrhit

EWB-RHIT Implements the Substructure for the Second Latrine

International Projects, Uncategorized
In August of 2016, we traveled to the village of Gomoa Gyaman , Ghana for the fourth time since 2013. Our travel team consisted of six students, Camille Blaisdell, Rachel Broughton, Louis Campbell, Emily Haussmann, Andy Rhine, and Dhruv Vora, our technical mentor Jed Holt, and our faculty mentor Dr. Daniel Tetteh-Richter. On previous trips, we constructed one latrine and communicated with village elders to formulate a design to meet Gomoa Gyaman’s needs as serve as a source of pride. During this trip, we completed the substructure of the second latrine in the village. We also completed the superstructure of the first latrine since time restraints kept last spring’s travel team from finishing. The community, with the supervision of the team, painted the latrine and finished installing the plumbing, stall…
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18Jan 2016 by ewbrhit

Return to Ghana

International Projects, Uncategorized
In just a few weeks, from February 25th to March 6th, we will be returning to Gomoa Gyaman, Ghana to finish constructing the latrine! Over the fall and winter, the latrine substructure remained covered and unused, waiting for the next phase of construction. We will make use of the lessons learned on last summer’s trip including quality and availability of materials and labor delegation. Currently, we are making sure all of our vaccinations are complete, developing a construction plan, and calculating the amount of material and labor required. This lengthy process includes all members of the club, not only those who will be travelling. This latrine will have 10 stalls and 2 handwashing stations. It will be constructed using CMU and mortar walls with a truss-style roof. Stalls will be…
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04Aug 2015 by ewbrhit

Ghana Go-Ahead

International Projects, Uncategorized
The RHIT student chapter of EWB has been given final approval to travel to Ghana on their first implementation trip to the community of Gomoa Gyaman! It’s been since August 2013 that the chapter first traveled to Gomoa Gyaman on an assessment trip in which the team met with community leaders and residents to learn about the needs of the community. The team learned that the community suffers from a sanitation issue due to a lack of adequate places to go to the bathroom. Much of the community practices open defecation while using the limited privacy of brush and other plants. The bathroom facilities that do exist are in very poor condition and pose structural safety threats. Children in the community are at high risk of contracting fecal-born diseases as…
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13May 2015 by ewbrhit

Technical Mentor Transition

Global News, Uncategorized
Wil Painter has been with the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology Engineers Without Borders student chapter since 2010 as the technical mentor. Wil traveled on a total of eight trips abroad to the communities of Batey Cinco Casas and Batey Santa Rosa in the Dominic Republic and Gomoa Gyaman in Ghana. In Batey Cinco Casas, Wil was instrumental in the design and construction of a hurricane resistant roof for a medical clinic which entirely enclosed the structure, allowing for installation of necessary medical equipment and overnight patient care. Another project for the medical clinic was the construction of a septic system which, in addition to the roof, allowed the hospital to expand more services to more patients. In Batey Santa Rosa, ventilated pit latrines were constructed to help relieve the community…
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15Apr 2015 by ewbrhit

Gratitude for Grads

Global News, Uncategorized
As the 2014-2015 school year is drawing to a close, we would like to take time to thank all of our outstanding graduating seniors! We are incredibly thankful for all that each of you have contributed to EWB-RHIT over the years and we hope you found the deep enlightenment associated with helping those less fortunate than us. Whether you traveled abroad with EWB or not, we hope you realize the impact that each of you made on those in the communities we served. We would also like to take this time to thank a special individual. Few members have devoted more of their time and energy into EWB-RHIT than our past president, marketing team manager, and treasurer, Jung Fang. Originally from China, Jung joined EWB his freshman year and made…
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