Imagine being blind. Now, imagine being blind and living in southeast Africa. Now, imagine being blind, living in southeast Africa and having to walk three miles just to get a clean glass of water. This is reality is for many schoolchildren in Malawi, Africa. But, not for long.
Loyola Marymount University students will travel this summer to the Republic of Malawi, to build a water conveyance system at the Malingunde School for the Blind. The trip marks LMU’s first project with the Engineers Without Borders program, which travels on goodwill missions.
Three engineering students and a faculty member will go on the initial assessment trip, and a larger group will return later in the year to do the construction work. LMU started its own chapter of Engineers Without Borders last fall with the hope of traveling twice a year to help Third World countries.
James Clements, a junior mechanical engineering major, has spent hundreds of hours in the past six months talking to officials to get government approval for this project. “I believe if you have the ability to do good in the world, then you have an ethical responsibility to do so,” said Clements.
Jeremy Pal, the LMU faculty adviser going on the trip, says this will be a real eye-opener for the students. “More than a billion people worldwide lack access to clean water and sanitation, leading to millions of premature deaths every year, most of which are children … I feel proud that LMU engineering students are making a difference to those who aren’t fortunate as we are.”
The project will utilize a $20,000 contribution in GPS mapping equipment from Trimble, headquartered in Sunnyvale, Calif., and provider of advanced positioning solutions for construction and engineering industry. Chris Stern, a Trimble employee and 1993 LMU alumnus initiated this donation.
Richard Plumb, dean of Frank R. Seaver College of Science and Engineering, contributed $3,000 for the project he described as “truly carrying out the mission of the school.”
Engineers Without Borders project organizers say blind and visually impaired students at the Malingunde School are often orphaned and are given a low priority by the Malawi government.
While in Africa, the LMU team will survey the area, take pictures, write journals and confer on how to design and build a water conveyance system for the school.