Our Crowdfunding Groups
Every day, rather than attending school, young girls and women have to walk upwards of 10 kilometers to a water source to fetch water for cooking, cleaning, farming, and taking care of livestock. As a result, these girls and women drop out of school. Or community members will dig wells up to 200 feet deep by hand. Not only that, but this water is always contaminated, leading to the wide spread of illness, including but not limited to: HIV/AIDs, parasite infections, and dysentery. It is estimated that 15% of children born in the community will die from a water related illness before the age of seven.
The Arizona State University chapter of Engineers Without Borders (EWB-ASU) seeks to create a more stable and prosperous world by helping a small community in Bondo-Rarieda, Kenya, to develop sustainable water resources for daily use.
In previous years, we have installed a 72,000L rainwater catchment system that collects water from rooftop gutters and stores that collected water in an in-ground tank. We have also rehabilitated a surface dam, creating a 7.5 million liter water reservoir for the community and preventing erosion of neighboring farmlands.
In the summer of 2014, we will be sending a team of students and professional engineering mentors to help the university located a few kilometers from the community. The Jaramogi Oginga Odinga University of Science and Technology, named after Kenya’s first vice president, is the university that all students from a 30 kilometer radius will attend to receive their education. We will be overseeing the construction of lab that allows students to observe how water flows through pipes, channels, materials, and special networks. At the same time, we will be teaching basic engineering courses about water technology to the students at the university.
This project in Bondo has many motivations: education, health, sustainability, and several more. As engineers, our vision is to not only have infrastructure built in Bondo, but also provide education to the community in order to sustain current and future projects for many years to come. Current and future water projects will provide clean water and sustainable infrastructure to the community, and, through education, will lead to economic growth and sustainability.
We want to empower the citizens of Bondo to live healthy and meaningful lives. We want to empower them to change the world for their neighbors and for all of Kenya. Empowerment starts in Bondo and we want to watch our project impact all of Africa.
But first, we desire to empower the students at ASU to understand the great potential and the endless opportunities we each have to help make the world a better place. Engineers have an incredible scope of influence and it is our responsibility to make the most of this project.
If Kenya doesn’t receive the help that we would like to bring, the communities across the country will have to continue to struggle to live from day to day. We are asking that you not just invest in improving the lives of the Bondo community, but we are asking that you invest in the next generation of engineers to be leaders in our community as well as in the global community.
Your investment will be used to provide Kenyan students with the opportunity to explore, understand, and design water infrastructure. These same students will go on to improve the water quality all across the country. By making a difference in the education of these students, we will be empowering the future engineers of Kenya to revolutionize their society.
This campaign doesn't end when the lab is built - in fact, it will continue to educate Bondo students for many years to come. Along with education comes stability, local and global understanding, and economic and environmental security. The positive effect will be propagated all the way back to our homes and lives.
All donations are charitable contributions. No matter how large or small a donation, or just for spreading the word to your friends via social media, THANK YOU! Thank you for support as students provide clean water to Kenyan communities one engineer at a time!
For more information, please visit our website: http://studentorgs.engineering.asu.edu/ewb Contact us directly at: asuewb@gmail.com Connect with us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/pub/engineers-without-borders-asu-chapter/85/491/915
EWB-ASU is the regional premiere chapter of EWB-USA.
A donation of $5 gives a 5 year old child a chance at life because he/she will have access to clean drinking water. What's in it for you? You'll get a personalized, downloadable certificate thanking you for your donation! YOUR NAME will be added on our website as a campaign donor and you will get a personal Facebook shout out!
A donation of $25 gives one girl an elementary education because she will be able to attend school instead of walking several miles to fetch water. What's in it for you? You'll get all the perks from the previous donation level and YOUR NAME included in the ""Sponsors"" page of the students' laboratory manual!
A donation of $100 gives a Kenyan student a high quality engineering education because he/she will have access to experiment in a hydrology lab. What's in it for you? You'll get all the perks from the previous donation level and YOUR NAME placed on all outreach materials at our future events (e.g. 5k run posters and shirts)!
A donation of $500 gives 7.5 million liters of water for a farming community because that's the average cost of a small surface dam. What's in it for you? You'll get all the perks from the previous donation level, a complementary photo album with shots from previous trips, and a section of the hydrology lab will be NAMED AFTER YOU!
