Committee Updates

This week the Nyambogo Project Committee has two new advisors, Nalin Sahni and Todd Trabert. We are looking to have our alternative analysis for this project done by the end of the month and we are hoping to move into the design phase by the beginning of next year.
In the Burere Project Committee, we are looking to meet with Peter next week for our assessment form and getting ready for the summer assessment trip. We are slated to have this project implemented during the winter holiday next year.

The Banquet is swiftly approaching and with only 2 weeks left we are kicking it into high gear to get everything ready in time.
We are stepping it up in our Fundraising Committee as well. We are in the process of applying for a grant that will hopefully cover the cost of our Otho Abwao project. We are also working on business cards and donation boxes.

Nyambogo to be Sponsored by Global Fast

Global Fast is an new non-profit that connects people with worthwhile causes, while changing the way they think about donating.  While most nonprofits only ask you to give up part of your paycheck, Global Fast advocates for sacrificial giving. By giving something up, whether a meal, a movie, or that new t-shirt you've been wanting to buy, you now have money in your budget to donate instead, building solidarity with those we aim to help.

Our Nyambogo water project has been vetted by the Global Fast staff and selected as one of the benificiary projects.  Members of the UC community, including the service fraternity Alpha Phi Omega & University Honors Association, will be partnering with EWB to run a Global Fast at UC.  In the coming weeks, look for events and other publicity aimed to engage all of UC in this fast, all earning money for Nyambogo's new water system.

 Click here to visit the Nyambogo project page on GlobalFast.org

Progress in Nyambogo

Greetings! Over the last quarter and break the members of the Nyambogo design project have been hard at work. Last quarter's attendance at our committee meetings was incredible and the extra help has been quite a boost to the project. We're currently fully invested in determining the best solution for the water storage that will be part of our design. Last quarter we evaluated boreholes and water catchments as the two most feasible sources. Water catchment was given second priority due to its limited ability to supply during the dry season. This drawback would require massive storage capacities in order to ensure availability during the dry season. The borehole offers year round water availability, so the amount of water storage required at any one time would be greatly reduced. This quarter's work involves investigation of types of tanks from large ferrocement tanks to smaller prefabricated plastic tanks. Spring quarter will focus on the incorporation of filter technology as well as planning distribution sites throughout the community.

Day 2 - Arrive in Kenya

We are now at the Mennonite Guest House in Kenya! I am completely exhausted. When we arrived in Kenya, we had to fill out several forms all saying the same things but on different colors of paper in order to get visas and get out of the airport to the parking lot. (My passport has its first stamp in it!) We met our drivers at the airport and they brought us here. I’ve heard many good things about Fat Joe and Slim Joe, and am excited to get to know them this week. None of us got enough sleep last night, although the rooms are very nice; however we should get another chance to sleep today on the drive to Shirati – it is a full days drive.

Summer Trip - Day 1

Hi, I'm Will Hilton, and I'll be posting updates on the EWB summer trip when I get a chance. (Which might not be often...)

Day 1:
I am sitting in the airport in Paris, France. It’s about 3:30 am Eastern Time, but we are all wide awake. Having successfully navigated security at Cincinnati’s airport and again in Paris, we now await the final leg of our journey from Paris to Nyambogo. We have several hours in our layover, so we looked around the airport. Sadly, $10 only gets us 7 euro, so even a simple donut is >5 dollars. I do get a chocolate muffin though. I buy 30 min of Internet time so everyone in the group can update our Facebook statuses. (You know it’s worth it!)

From left to right: Ben, Will (me), Mason, Paul

Summer Send-off

This Friday, we'll be having another awesome EWB trip sendoff.  This time it's for the members of our summer trip who are traveling to Nyambogo & Burere with Village Life Outreach Project.

We'll be getting community input on our designs that we've created for the Burere school, and we'll be performing an assessment to start design on the Nyambogo water system.  But don't take my word for it, come to the event to hear all about it.

Date: This Friday, May 28th
Time: 11:00-11:30am
Location: TUC Theater