Want to change the world? A group of U of T students is, and they have the stamps in their passports to prove it. As part of an international group called Engineers Without Borders (EWB), they work to improve infrastructure such as water, sanitation and communications in less developed countries.

EWB’s aim is to help people in the developing world improve their lives by giving them access to knowledge and technology they need. EWB student volunteers use their skills to build infrastructure and gain experience working in partnership with the local community.

Last summer, members of the EWB Toronto chapter went to Bolivia on a self-funded project to help the remote mountain town of Huarina solve its persistent problems with drinking water. EWB had been approached by a Bolivian non-governmental organization about getting help with contamination of the town’s water supply. Water flowing down from the Andes mountains via the Keka river to the nearly 400 families of Huarina was causing diarrhea and tooth decay.

Anna MacDonald and Nicolas Krutchen, two U of T engineering students and EWB members, found the money to travel to Bolivia for two weeks in May 2002 to investigate the situation firsthand. They found that their biggest challenge was not engineering but politics.

“Communication was at times very frustrating,” said MacDonald. She and Krutchen encountered some local resistance when their “systematic, holistic approach to problem-solving was at odds with the way members of the water committee approached problems.”

“To make meaningful change requires an understanding of the people in a place,” MacDonald explained. While the engineers could have given technically correct advice from Toronto, “our suggestions might not have been socially sustainable.”

Another recent EWB project saw U of T student Benji Plener travel to Mprokoso, an agricultural community of 7,000 people in the bush of northern Zambia. He worked at a nearby refugee camp to help maintain the “hammer mills” that grind maize, provided by the World Food Program, into a meal people can eat.

The four mills had been breaking down frequently. Fuel leaked and small parts gave way, causing terrible delays that meant no food for the 25,000 refugees, sometimes for days at a time. Plener’s work helped ensure people would be fed.

Coping with the natural environment in Zambia was a challenge. “Sunburn, insect bites, dehydration and exhaustion—it’s just so hot the sun drains the energy from you. There were problems at first, but I got used to things there,” said Plener.

But it wasn’t all work. “In the evenings I used to play guitar and watch the sun set. One thing that was really nice about that part of the world was that you can see the stars very clearly. I saw all the constellations upside down!”

The organization’s successes aren’t just in the field. Engineers Without Borders is a registered charity that relies on sponsors to fund its work. According to the Toronto chapter’s vice-president of finance, Jonathan Polak, the U of T chapter has been very successful convincing sponsors that their work is important. “No other chapter in Canada, the USA or the UK has ever attained the level of fundraising success that we have seen this year. Our donors include the University of Toronto Alumni Association, MBNA Canada and the Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering. On Friday we are holding a joint fundraising effort with Krispy Kreme for HIV-AIDS [prevention] in Africa.”

The personal benefits of getting involved are also great, according to U of T chapter president Anupam Singhal.

“While I would like to think that I have made a difference to EWB, the truth is that EWB has made more of a difference to my life…I am just one individual in an organization filled with great individuals.

“With respect to a difference to developing communities, even if I have made the slightest difference to them, I am not satisfied with what I’ve done thus far.

“I do, however, know that I am in a much better position to help developing communities make a difference for themselves. This is what motivates me to continue.”