Pairwise Comparison Chart

In this week's meeting, we did a lot of voting! The purpose of our voting was to fill out a Pairwise Comparison Chart (PCC) which is a method of determining what objectives should have the highest priority. There were seven priorities that we had- ease of maintenance (for up-keeping the schoolhouse), sustainability, safety, and ease of transportation (in regards to bringing the material to the village) just to name a few. At times, it was difficult to vote because both choices had good arguments such as ease of maintenance versus cost of maintenance. Other times it was not hard to make a decision; for example, safety always received the most votes when compared to any other category. The results of our PCC will be announced next week and we will be able to know how our priorities rank and thus, focus on what is most important.

All the voting we did will help prepare us for EWB elections coming up! Next week will be nominations and the following week will be the elections. Anyone interested in being a leader in EWB should consider running for a position!

Just Getting Ready for September

Our trip to Nicaragua has been postponed from June to September so up til then we are just getting ready! That means continuing raising funds by applying for grants, finalizing our designs, completing travel forms, and having work days to practice mixing concrete and basic construction techniques. We are also working on compiling our own maintenance and construction manuals. The maintenance manual will be simple consisting of how-to's for basic problems that may arise. We plan to get ideas from home improvement stores such as Home Depot and Lowe's which offer fix-it advice and instructions. Lastly, during our meeting, we were reminded of our need to raise money for our project. All of us are going to bring three grants to next week's meeting!

And Spring Quarter Begins!

Our first meeting of the quarter was exciting with several new students interested in joining Project S.E.D. After introductions that even consisted of an icebreaker question, we discussed the EWB-USA grant. This grant is a great opportunity for us to receive much needed funding for our project. Another thing on our to-do list is making a construction and maintenance manual. These manuals will be helpful for the community members in Las Brenas. So several of us will be writing the manual, finding helpful pictures and diagrams, and of course translating our instructions into Spanish. Also coming up this quarter, we will have at least one session in training for the trip. We will be able to practice possibly digging a footing, mixing concrete, and working with wood. Project S.E.D. faces an exciting new quarter!

Holding off until Spring Quarter

Despite it being dead week, there was still a group of EWBers who attended this week's meeting. We did a lot of discussion during the meeting. Henry, who attended last week's conference call with an EWBUSA representative, informed us of the advice that Tiffany (the representative) gave us. One of the tasks we need to accomplish is to put together a construction and maintenance manual of the schoolhouse for the people in the community. This will be a somewhat difficult task since we will need to put a lot of effort into writing it, including helpful pictures, and translating it into Spanish. We were also advised to practice nailing, mixing concrete, and other building techniques before we leave. However, we all agreed that with finals right around the corner, it would be best to hold off on working on the manuals and holding building workshops until next quarter. Surely spring quarter will be a busy time for Project S.E.D.!

On track to getting ready to travel

On Tuesday's meeting, we discussed briefly about our trip to Nicaragua. The original plan was to go in June after finals week but the weather might be more suitable for building if we went in September. Nothing is set in stone but if the funds are raised, we can expect to be traveling in the summer to start construction of the foundation!
Today, there was a conference call with a representative from EWB-USA. According to Oren, our project lead, the conference call went great and we received positive feedback and helpful tips. Once we complete our implementation forms and decide the traveling details, we will be able to see our long hours of preparation bear fruit when we begin construction of the schoolhouse.

Good News and Bad News

The good news is that the design of the roof and wall are completed. Eugene, our design lead, emailed out the designs and by the pictures and complicated numbers it looks like the schoolhouse will be ready to withstand any rainstorm, hurricane or earthquake. The bad news is that during the meeting we did cost estimates on the material and found out that we would need a lot of material that obviously requires a great deal of money. Our previous project was the latrines that did not require as much material as a schoolhouse so the costs of materials gave us somewhat of a jolt. Of course we are building the schoolhouse in stages so this way, we can raise the money needed as each stage approaches. If you want to check out the layout of the schoolhouse, they can be viewed through our Google Groups page (see attached link below) listed under discussions as EWB Schoolhouse- Building Layout and Alternatives.
http://groups.google.com/group/ewbucla-nicaraguasanitation?lnk=

Frijolillo

The word "frijolillo" may be hard to pronounce but we are excited to say it! Frijolillo is a tropical hardwood that we recently discovered is sustainable, meets our building standards, and is found in Nicaragua! It is used as a substitute for Cumaru, another hardwood, but frijolillo has all the same valuable qualities as Cumaru. We are very happy that we will be able to use such an ideal material that is environmentally friendly and has the right strength properties so we can construct a stable structure. If you want to learn more about frijolillo or other sustainable wood materials check out http://www.nicaraguahardwoods.com/products/S4S%20Frijolillo%20FAS(Cumaru%20substitute).php

And we are still applying for grants hoping to get enough funding so we can travel this summer. Furthermore, our NGO contact, Marvin, has informed us that the community has been eager for us to start construction on the schoolhouse.