Robyn Chatwin-Davies was attending a Victoria high school when she first heard of Engineers Without Borders (EWB).
“They did a presentation and I found it really exciting because it made me realize that engineers played an important role in social responsibility and that there are lots of opportunities for me to use engineering outside of a typical office job,” says the Carleton student. “I really enjoyed the ideas of travelling and helping others.”
So when she came to Carleton three years ago to study environmental engineering, she immediately signed up with the campus EWB group.
And now, she’s off to Malawi for the summer with a group of EWB students.
“I will be working in a district called Mzimba in Northern Malawi, at their district water development office, shadowing field staff called water monitoring assistants who go out to remote communities and support the mechanics that are responsible for repairing pumps and wells,” says Chatwin-Davies. She will be helping government field staff and mechanics work together more effectively.
The Carleton student says she is aware there will be some challenges this summer such as learning a new language and eating different food while living in a completely foreign culture. ”There are also some challenges associated with working in a small governmental office overseas as many local level governments face extreme budgeting problems, so there is always a lot to do without a lot of resources.”
“And it will certainly be a test of my independence to live in a rural African village without regular contact with my friends and family at home.”
Chatwin-Davies says she has stayed involved with EWB because it’s a “sophisticated NGO that is really committed to sustainable development and working within local governments and partner organizations. The organization attracts amazing young leaders and it’s been so inspiring to get to work with many of these people.”
The Carleton group has an active outreach program to high school students and community events. “We run events to raise awareness about international development and fair trade,’’ she says. “At Halloween, we went door to door for a `reverse trick or trade’ where we handed out fair trade chocolates. For Easter, we organized a fair trade Easter egg hunt on campus. We also run small events such as movie nights and coffeehouses in Roosters on campus or fundraising events, like Christmas gift wrapping in the Place D’Orleans mall and a penny drive called `Change for Change’ in the engineering department.”
Chatwin-Davies is also a violinist in the Carleton Chamber Music Ensemble and is involved in Women in Science and Engineering (CU-WISE).
She departs for Africa on May 7, returning to Canada on August 29. You can follow her blog at: http://heymalawi.wordpress.com.
Thursday, April 28, 2011 in Info Brief
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