Travel Plans and Permits: Summer Trip Planning

Today, the Burere travel team made some serious progress toward being ready for our June trip. We had good meeting with some folks who have been to the region and a visit to the doctor to prepare for the health risks of travel all in one day. Village Life Outreach Project also booked tickets for our flights today! We're all excited for our June 6th departure for Nairobi. Our arrival there will be followed by a drive to Shirati (see picture at right). Burere, where the school will be constructed, is just south of Shirati on the Mori Bay of Lake Victoria.

Our partners in Tanzania, the Shirati Health, Education, and Development Foundation (SHED), are also getting ready for the trip. We are currently looking for ways to get them a copy of our Burere drawing set so that the Rorya District government can get them approved and the permits issued. It takes several weeks to get mail to Shirati from Cincinnati, so printing them in Tanzania is the best option. We will, however, send a few sets in the mail as backup.

Keep checking the blog for updates on the trip and other things going on in EWB. If you want to help us build the school, there is still time to RSVP for the spring banquet (until Monday, 4/23). We look forward to celebrating this exciting time in our chapter with all of our friends May 2nd at the Cincinnati Zoo.

EWB Elections Decide New Leadership

This past Thursday, we held our annual elections to decide the leaders for the coming year of EWB. We have a strong pool of leadership and the results of the elections promise another productive year.

The newly elected president of EWB is Ben Gentry who has been leading the Burere project team for the past two years. Ben has led the team from a disappointing TAC review a year and a half ago to a successful TAC review this April. Ben, pictured at right, will look to continue his success as a leader next year for the whole chapter. Ben has been actively involved with EWB for 3 years.

Internal VP elect Michael McMahon has served as a member and vice-chair of the Nyambogo committee for the past two years. External VP elect Alex Jones served as the EWB-UC fundraising chairman the past two years and has worked within the Nyambogo project committee. Treasurer elect Sean Buchanan served as the EWB-UC historian this past year. Secretary elect Lana Sneath is the current EWB-UC social/recruitment committee chair.

The new exec members will shadow the current exec for the next two weeks. Once those two weeks are over, the new exec members will take full responsibility in their new positions for the remainder of this spring quarter and all of next year.

TAC Tentatively Approves Burere Design, Planning for June Construction Begins

The Burere project has been a major initiative of EWB-UC since early 2009 and I have personally been involved with the project since its approval by EWB-USA to be an official project. I would like to share that, as of today, the Burere school design has been approved by the EWB-USA TAC committee! The team still needs to address a few questions on the technical design from EWB-USA to complete the approval process. Our health and safety plan (HASP) still needs some work before our trip can be officially approved, but we should be able to complete the required updates and changes to the HASP within a week.

Thank you so much to everyone who has contributed the past few years, this is a success that was created through the hard work of many people. A big thanks goes to our mentor team: Richard and Emily Elliott of VLOP, Julie Cromwell and Jason Jones of THP, and Tom Bible from UC's DAAP. The travel team is gearing up to go as well and is getting all of their vaccinations next week. I look forward to traveling with Andrew Griggs (education lead), Kelsey Reichenbach (historian), Zach Banachowski, and Justin Thompson this June.

I want to thank our donors as well. We owe the opportunities EWB creates for collaborative infrastructure development and service based learning to all of you! A few of our recent donors include the Engineering Tribunal at UC, Walsh Construction and the Cincinnati Chapter of the Ohio Society of Professional Engineers. To become a donor and support our partner communities and students at UC, visit http://ewb-uc.org/donate/. Please consider joining is to celebrate at our banquet May 2nd, email banquet@ewb-uc.org for more info.

TAC Review is Complete, Burere Waiting for Results

Last Wednesday night, we had our Technical Advisory Committee review of the Burere design and construction plans. Thanks to an amazing effort by the team and our mentors, the presentation went very well and we were able to answer all of the TAC's questions about the design. The final verdict on whether Burere construction begins this summer will be coming within a few days! Stay tuned because as soon as we know, we'll be posting the news.

In other news, the Spring Banquet is quickly approaching and it's time to RSVP if you are planning on attending. The date is May 2nd and the event promises to be a memorable one with a great dinner and tables showcasing all of EWB-UC's progress this year. Emails with the invitation will be coming soon and instructions to RSVP are included. We've signed the contract for the Zoo's facility and need to make sure we fill it up! If you haven't received any banquet material yet, email banquet@ewb-uc.org for an invitation.

Sneak Peek at the Burere Design

The review is set for tonight, but all of our followers are getting an early look at some new 3D renderings of the Burere schoolhouse. The design process featured a collaboration of students, professional mentors, UC faculty members and our partners at Village Life Outreach project. The rendering was made by Zach Banachowski, a 3rd year civil engineer and member of the Burere drawing team. EWB- UC wants to thank Jason Jones and Julie Cromwell of THP, Thomas Bible of UC's School of Architecture and interior design, and Richard and Emily Elliot of Village Life Outreach Project. Thanks, also, to Zach for this rendering, Jay Chamberlain for the concrete structural design and Avdhesh Gaur for the roof and truss structural design. Wish us luck on our review tonight!