The competition for student chapters of Engineers Without Borders can sometimes be swift. There are more chapters than there are projects. When the Fort Lewis College chapter applied to undertake its first project, members were hopeful. The group’s application stood out among the rest, which netted them a project to design a water-supply system in Humla, Nepal.

Shortly after the FLC chapter won the Nepal bid, however, the national organization halted all travel to the Asian country because of political unrest. The national group then awarded the FLC chapter a similar project in a different country. Beginning in February, seven students and faculty sponsor Don May sketched plans to fix a broken and nearly useless water-delivery system in Huai Houk, Thailand. In May, the students spent 18 days in the country – six of them working in the village – and laid 15,090 feet of pipe, which increased the village’s water flow rate by tenfold.

Student chapters operate under the national Engineers Without Borders umbrella, which formed in 2000 in Belize under the direction of a University of Colorado at Boulder civil engineering professor. After establishing chapters of professional engineers, the group branched out to college chapters, with the intent of giving budding engineering students opportunities to help residents of disadvantaged communities.

Engineers Without Borders spans several continents and countries, completing dozens of projects each year for the poorest of people. Still in its infancy, the organization requires each chapter to raise its own money to carry out the project. This means that while FLC chapter members were busy designing a new system, they also spent time raising money to pay for the supplies, travel and living expenses. In the end, the chapter spent about $19,000 on the project. Proceeds came from individual donations, local business contributions, fund-raisers, the Fort Lewis College Foundation and from chapter members’ own pockets.

The FLC chapter intends to complete its Nepal project when given the go-ahead from the national organization. Meanwhile, the members are beginning work on a similar project for a village a couple of miles away from Huai Houk. In May 2006, the group will head back to Thailand to help village residents construct the system, in addition to helping build three additional rooms for their school.

-Amy Maestas