April 1, 2005: Headlines: COS - Dominican Republic: COS - Uganda: Water: Enginerring: Civil Engineering: Iowa State Daily: Lack of water is a problem in Uganda, but Danielle Wain is familiar with dealing with dry areas. She worked in the Peace Corps and lived in the Dominican Republic for two years and said she saw a lot of similarities between the two countries.
Peace Corps Online:
Peace Corps News:
Library:
Peace Corps: Water:
Peace Corps: Water:
April 1, 2005: Headlines: COS - Dominican Republic: COS - Uganda: Water: Enginerring: Civil Engineering: Iowa State Daily: Lack of water is a problem in Uganda, but Danielle Wain is familiar with dealing with dry areas. She worked in the Peace Corps and lived in the Dominican Republic for two years and said she saw a lot of similarities between the two countries.
Lack of water is a problem in Uganda, but Danielle Wain is familiar with dealing with dry areas. She worked in the Peace Corps and lived in the Dominican Republic for two years and said she saw a lot of similarities between the two countries.
Lack of water is a problem in Uganda, but Danielle Wain is familiar with dealing with dry areas. She worked in the Peace Corps and lived in the Dominican Republic for two years and said she saw a lot of similarities between the two countries.
Students spend Spring Break in Uganda
Caption: Tom Bruton, senior in civil engineering; Danielle Wain, graduate student in civil, construction and environmental engineering; and Say On, associate professor of civil, construction and environmental engineering, spent Spring Break in Uganda at Makerere University helping solve water and construction problems. Photo: Tom Bruton
By Amy Klein
Daily Correspondent
Two ISU students and a professor went to Uganda during Spring Break to use their engineering skills for a good cause.
Tom Bruton, senior in civil engineering; Danielle Wain, graduate student in civil, construction and environmental engineering; and Say Ong, associate professor of civil, construction and environmental engineering, went to Makerere University in Uganda during Spring Break to help solve water and construction problems.
The ISU council on international programs and the John Deere Foundation sent the three people to Uganda, where the Sustainable Rural Livelihood program already has connections.
Bruton, Wain and Ong are all part of Engineers for a Sustainable World, an organization that has a partnership with livelihood program. The three chose to go to Uganda because the program already has connections there.
"Our goal is to engage students from everywhere, not just engineers, and to work on projects in developing countries and get rid of world poverty," Bruton said.
For 10 days, Bruton, Wain and Ong traveled to Kampala, Uganda's capital, and collaborated with Makerere University faculty and students. They then traveled to Kamuli, a Ugandan district, and talked to farmers who were being helped by Volunteer Efforts for Development Concerns, a non-governmental organization. VEDCO teaches farmers agriculture techniques, how to save water and channel it to their gardens and some sanitation techniques.
"Those farmers go out to train the other farmers, and eventually the whole place gradually improves their standard of living," Bruton said.
The students also helped the people of Uganda with some simple construction problems.
"A lot of the problems they face over there are really low-tech, like how to get water from the roof when it comes down," Bruton said. "Something easy we can do to make a change."
Lack of water is a problem in Uganda, but Wain is familiar with dealing with dry areas. She worked in the Peace Corps and lived in the Dominican Republic for two years and said she saw a lot of similarities between the two countries.
"On the surface, it wasn't very different," Wain said. "The rural people [in Uganda] live very similar lives to the rural people there [the Dominican Republic], so I was sort of used to that level of poverty, that lack of things that we take for granted, water and electricity."
Ong said he wants to bring knowledge of these problems back to Iowa State. He plans to use some of the problems he saw in Uganda in a new engineering class to be offered this fall. Engineers for a Sustainable World also plans on examining these issues, he said.
Wain said she thought the trip was important because there is room for people with engineering skills to contribute their time if they are willing to do so.
"It is great that we can collaborate and maybe improve on some of the stuff that they're doing or help them bring what they are doing to another level," Wain said. "There's just so many people who are living in conditions that we can't even comprehend in the United States, and if you can do something to make someone's life easier, I think that's great."
When this story was posted in March 2005, this was on the front page of PCOL:
Peace Corps Online The Independent News Forum serving Returned Peace Corps Volunteers
| The Peace Corps Library Peace Corps Online is proud to announce that the Peace Corps Library is now available online. With over 30,000 index entries in 500 categories, this is the largest collection of Peace Corps related stories in the world. From Acting to Zucchini, you can find hundreds of stories about what RPCVs with your same interests or from your Country of Service are doing today. If you have a web site, support the "Peace Corps Library" and link to it today. |
| Crisis Corps arrives in Thailand After the Tsunami in Southeast Asia last December, Peace Corps issued an appeal for Crisis Corps Volunteers and over 200 RPCVs responded. The first team of 8 Crisis Corps volunteers departed for Thailand on March 18 to join RPCVs who are already supporting relief efforts in Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, and India with other agencies and NGO's. |
| RPCVs in Congress ask colleagues to support PC RPCVs Sam Farr, Chris Shays, Thomas Petri, James Walsh, and Mike Honda have asked their colleagues in Congress to add their names to a letter they have written to the House Foreign Operations Subcommittee, asking for full funding of $345 M for the Peace Corps in 2006. As a follow-on to Peace Corps week, please read the letter and call your Representative in Congress and ask him or her to add their name to the letter. |
| Add your info now to the RPCV Directory Call Harris Publishing at 800-414-4608 right away to add your name or make changes to your listing in the newest edition of the NPCA's Directory of Peace Corps Volunteers and Former Staff. Then read our story on how you can get access to the book after it is published. The deadline for inclusion is May 16 so call now. |
| March 1: National Day of Action Tuesday, March 1, is the NPCA's National Day of Action. Please call your Senators and ask them to support the President's proposed $27 Million budget increase for the Peace Corps for FY2006 and ask them to oppose the elimination of Perkins loans that benefit Peace Corps volunteers from low-income backgrounds. Follow this link for step-by-step information on how to make your calls. Then take our poll and leave feedback on how the calls went. |
| Make a call for the Peace Corps PCOL is a strong supporter of the NPCA's National Day of Action and encourages every RPCV to spend ten minutes on Tuesday, March 1 making a call to your Representatives and ask them to support President Bush's budget proposal of $345 Million to expand the Peace Corps. Take our Poll: Click here to take our poll. We'll send out a reminder and have more details early next week. |
Read the stories and leave your comments.
Some postings on Peace Corps Online are provided to the individual members of this group without permission of the copyright owner for the non-profit purposes of criticism, comment, education, scholarship, and research under the "Fair Use" provisions of U.S. Government copyright laws and they may not be distributed further without permission of the copyright owner. Peace Corps Online does not vouch for the accuracy of the content of the postings, which is the sole responsibility of the copyright holder.
Story Source: Iowa State Daily
This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Dominican Republic; COS - Uganda; Water; Enginerring; Civil Engineering
PCOL18116
42
.