A Great Time for a Great Cause

This past Thursday we partnered with Mac's Pizza Pub to host Kegs for Kenya. The event was a great success and we had an awesome turn out from the EWB faithful as well as some new faces from across campus. The proceeds from this fundraiser, a total of $500, will help offset the costs for those traveling this June to Burere. 

We would like to thank Mac's Pizza Pub  for their hospitality and support. We would also like to give a special shout-out to HipFish, DJ Carlo Cruz, and EWB's own Danny Watson aka "Gigawatson" for the live entertainment throughout the evening. 

If you missed out on the fun, there will be another fundraiser, very similar to K4K, that will be happening some time in the spring. Be sure to keep up with EWB-UC by checking out the following links:

• http://ewb-uc.org/ 
• http://ewbucin.blogspot.com/ 
• http://www.facebook.com/ew-buc
• http://twitter.com/#!/EWB_UC 

Nyambogo Success: Alternatives Analysis

Last week, the Nyambogo project committee had a conference call to discuss the alternatives analysis the team had assembled and confirm the chosen alternative with our EWB-USA project manager. The analysis considered several possible sources of water for the eventual system to provide potable water to the community which is located in northern Tanzania.

The community and EWB-UC had both believed that the best option was to drill a borehole to access groundwater in the area. This groundwater option was one of four weighed in the analysis and was the one that made the most sense based on the criteria analyzed. The important points investigated were technical feasibility, environmental and health concerns, financial viability, social and cultural issues, and the educational requirements.

Although EWB-UC chose the borehole well as the preferred alternative, we also investigated several other sources of water. An existing reservoir in Nyambogo, water catchment from buildings, and small scale water catchment were all evaluated. In the ranking system, water catchment from buildings and the borehole were tied. Luckily, Village Life Outreach Project (VLOP: http://www.villagelifeoutreach.org), a major EWB-UC partner, had already begun pursuing designs for roof catchment systems. Through partnership, EWB-UC, VLOP and the Nyambogo community are developing several projects and sources to solve the water quantity issues. With design for the borehole system in full swing and the first phase of water catchment already completed by VLOP this winter, the community's future water quantity security is looking better each day.

Please follow our Nyambogo project on our website and blog. We will also need support to implement the project once the design is completed! If you are interested in helping EWB-UC and our partners in the US and abroad develop the water resources in Nyambogo, please visit our Donate page. We are blessed with many donor partners (visit the "Our Sponsors" page for more details), but are always welcoming new donors!

Incorporating Culture

Culture is a huge part of EWB and recently it has been a little underrepresented. As a way to better incorporate culture we have started a new tradition: monthly cultural meetings! These meetings will help our chapter grow and learn more about the people who we seek to help with our projects.

The first cultural meeting since 2010 occurred this past Thursday, and EWB-UC was exposed to a new topic: African music and instruments. We learned about the characteristics of the music and how it has influenced music today, as well as different types of instruments like the kalimba, talking drum, and kora. To see the whole presentation check out this link: http://prezi.com/d5vwopen3tjh/edit/?auth_key=p4c5ix1&follow=rn5jxpkdw4lb

Thanks to Andrew Nottingham and Blake Baldwin for their time and effort coordinating these meetings, and a special thanks to Dr. John Kalubi from UC African Studies for his time and expertise.

Zooming Towards Sustainability

This past Saturday was a frigid one but EWB-UC isn't afraid of a little cold. The group arrived to the zoo bundled and ready to go. The day began at the education center, which was the first LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified building that the zoo had ever created. Rather than stopping at one "green" building the Cincinnati Zoo started a sustainability overhaul of their entire operation. The zoo's use of pervious pavement helps to catch rainwater as it falls by allowing the water to seep through the walkways rather than flowing over it and being sent off into the gutter. Another amazing accomplishment the zoo has achieved is their construction of the 1.56 megawatt-- 6,400 solar panel parking canopy, the largest canopy of its kind. The zoo had many other awesome green initiatives like their use of wind energy and composting programs. For more information about Cincinnati Zoo vistit their website: http://cincinnatizoo.org.
Thank you to all those who came out to the zoo this past weekend, and a special thanks to Jessica Gearhart for coordinating the tour!

New Year, New Flavor!

This new year we’re adding new elements to our weekly meetings.  We have appointed several individuals to help spice up our normal routine by incorporating cultural education as well as new faces to give our weekly updates. With these positions we’ve enabled new members to step up and take leadership roles in our growing chapter. Congratulations to our new general meeting coordinators: Susan Conroy, Andrew Pickens, and Brian Williams; along with our cultural meeting coordinators Andrew Nottingham and Blake Baldwin, and community meetings coordinator Justin Nagy!

On the social side of things, this Saturday, the 14^th, we will be taking a special sustainability tour of the Cincinnati Zoo. On this tour we’ll learn about the different improvements the zoo has undertaken in order to be one of the greenest zoos in the country. From this tour we hope to gain some knowledge that we can bring back to campus to incorporate sustainability into our daily routines.