Plenty of talent to go around to meet needs of the world

A daily newspaper in another Montana city recently ran a letter to the editor criticizing those who give to earthquake victims in Pakistan, where tents may be life-savers as winter descends.

The letter writer asked why Americans were giving overseas when the money is needed at home for victims of Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma needed the help. That person apparently didn't see sufficient money or heart to go around.

Others think both finances and talent can go a long way to meeting needs all over the world. So while the billions of dollars donated in America help hire private contractors who supply jobs for builders of bridges, buildings and homes, other donations help to build infrastructure in less fortunate areas where a mixture of volunteers come from the business community to work with student chapters of Engineers without Borders.

Like Doctors Without Borders, a medical-service providing counterpart, Engineers Without Borders (EWB) goes throughout the world serving those in need. Specifically, EWB helps engineer infrastructure that provides better systems for sanitary drinking water, wastewater, roads, erosion mitigation, and dealing with pollution from mining waste.

At Carroll College engineering professor Kevin Nielsen is working with an advisory committee comprised of engineers from local engineering companies to help create the basis for a local chapter of EWB. So far Nielsen has accompanied about eight students to Browning to the Blackfeet Reservation where the students examined potential projects and talked with students at the DeLaSalle School, a middle school run by the Catholic Church on the reservation.

Nielsen, a member of the Helena International Affairs Council, explains that finding a project for engineering students is no easy task. Numerous areas need improved infrastructure. Trips to places like Kyrgyzstan, Guatemala, the Marshall Islands or Mexico are critical to first determining the politics of a site and whether a place would be safe for students to work on a project.

Not only must Nielsen determine whether a contact in the foreign country can help obtain the proper permits and that the money raised for projects goes toward the intended work, but he also must find a project that is do-able in a short amount of time. Many places have such tremendous needs that the projects are beyond what students can accomplish in a set amount of time, Nielsen said.

One example of an already defined project is a water sanitation system planned by the Montana State University chapter of Engineers without Borders for a village in Kenya. The student unit is working to raise funds to match a $10,000 Gilhousen Family Foundation grant. Originally planned for this summer, the students and their faculty partners are aiming to raise $40,000 for a project that will use photovoltaic pumping systems to provide easily accessible water systems at two schools in rural western Kenya.

The project also will provide new toilet housings to replace primitive structures, according to Tucker Stevens, project manager for the MSU-EWB project. The MSU chapter expects to begin work in January in Kenya.

In the meantime, Nielsen will be looking at a small project in the Marshall Islands, where Carroll faculty has contacts who can help tackle the usual project barriers. Carroll is helping to provide information to Marshall Island schools regarding meeting accreditation standards, and Nielsen is hoping to build on that relationship for his students' first overseas philanthropic engineering efforts.

Similarly training in this country this summer were about 24 Japanese students who learned more about construction techniques while studying at the Helena College of Technology. Educational exchanges such as these not only share talents but increase the awareness of the problems, possibilities, and similarities worldwide.

Upcoming international events:

Nov. 13. Former Ambassador to Kuwait Barbara Bodine will address the public after a Middle Eastern appetizer buffet in the North Ballroom of the University of Montana UC at 6 p.m.

Nov. 14-17. Montana State University is celebrating International Education Week with an emphasis on Scandinavia.

Nov. 15. Helena International Affairs Council meeting and deadline for signing up for Carroll College's study abroad program in Italy. (There are a range of study abroad program deadlines coming up. See "Turkey Season" under http://www.carroll.edu/about/quicknotes.php). The Helena International Affairs Council meeting is at 5:15 p.m. in Room 326 of the City-County Building, 316 N. Park Avenue.

Nov. 21 - Lessons of Africa will be the subject of a speech by Princeton Lyman of the Council on Foreign Relations talking at the University of Montana Urey Underground Lecture Hall at 7 p.m. in conjunction with the UM Model United Nations Program.

Pat Murdo writes Here and There for the Helena International Affairs Council.