Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Getting started on designing!
In this week's meeting, we mostly discussed the design of the schoolhouse that we are planning to build in Las Brenas, Nicaragua. We talked about or mostly heard what our more knowledgeable graduate students said about what type of foundation we wanted to use for the school, what type of materials we wanted to use, and how we could build a more sustainable structure. So starting next week, people interested in designing the school are going to meet an hour before EWB meetings begin. There will be four groups designing the foundation of the school, roof of the school, water catchment system and latrines. Anyone who wants to help out or is just interested should come, besides, wouldn't it be cool to say you were a part of designing a building?
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Grant us some money, please
Grants=Money=A green light for designing and building the schoolhouse.
The focus of today's meeting was applying for grants. Without grants, Project S.E.D. (Sanitation, Education and Development) will be incomplete due to lack of funding! People were put into groups of three and given a grant to work on. This week everyone will be filling out applications for grants and by the end of next week, any questions about the application will be answered and we can turn in our grant requests. Then, hopefully, we'll hear back with good news!
The focus of today's meeting was applying for grants. Without grants, Project S.E.D. (Sanitation, Education and Development) will be incomplete due to lack of funding! People were put into groups of three and given a grant to work on. This week everyone will be filling out applications for grants and by the end of next week, any questions about the application will be answered and we can turn in our grant requests. Then, hopefully, we'll hear back with good news!
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Day-by-Day Snapshots of the Nicaragua Site Assessment Trip in June
June 14: All eight members of the team arrive and meet at Managua. They spend the night at Managua Backpacker's Inn. 
June 15- The team travels on bus and boat (known as a panga) to reach Bluefields and meet with our NGO contact, Marvin, to discuss travel plans to the two communities.
June 16- After purchasing supplies (gas for the pangas, rice, beans, etc.), the team travels to San Sebastian and checks on the latrines. They also meet with a representative from an NGO called BlueEnergy with whom EWB can possibly partner with in the future. They speak with families who own the latrines and find that overall, the latrines are clean and maintained well!
June 17- The team examines the schoolhouse in San Sebastian to get an idea of how they want to construct the new school in Las Brenas. Then the group braves the rain and take a four-hour long mule ride to Las Brenas.
June 18- At Las Brenas, the group holds a community meeting to discuss with the families the planning of the future schoolhouse. Then, they inspect a possible location for the school and gather information that will help in designing the new school.
June 19- Lots of traveling: the team leaves Las Brenas (by mules once again) to San Sebastian and then back to Bluefields by pangas.
June 20- The team meets with a contractor to discuss the schoolhouse designs and then meets one last time with Marvin to discuss future building plans.
June 21- After a successful site assessment, the team embarks home from Managua Airport.
Friday, October 8, 2010
Beginning a New Year
Last Tuesday, the 28th, EWB-UCLA held its first meeting of the year and there was an overwhelming turnout! Room 38-138 in Engineering IV was filled with a variety of people, from freshmen to graduate students, even a student from another college campus but all eager to learn about Engineers Without Borders. A Powerpoint presentation gave an informative overview about our two main projects in Guatemala and Nicaragua. Nathan, our President, also mentioned BOOTUP (refurbishing donated computers to give to charity) and suggested that members could also start local projects.
In this week's meeting, after everyone introduced themselves and shared their favorite ice cream flavor, it was expressed that fall quarter would emphasize fundraising. Oren asked that everyone research grants that our Nicaragua SED Project could apply for. Every bit of money helps and can go a long way. In our case, it could give a child the gift of an education. Let's hope that we can raise enough money to get our schoolhouse started as soon as possible!
In this week's meeting, after everyone introduced themselves and shared their favorite ice cream flavor, it was expressed that fall quarter would emphasize fundraising. Oren asked that everyone research grants that our Nicaragua SED Project could apply for. Every bit of money helps and can go a long way. In our case, it could give a child the gift of an education. Let's hope that we can raise enough money to get our schoolhouse started as soon as possible!
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