"Why are you rich and I am poor?"

A 10-year-old boy asked this of a member of the University
of Wisconsin chapter of Engineers Without Borders while creating a sustainable
water system in Murumba, Rwanda, according to EWB’s interim advisor and
Department of Engineering Faculty Laura Grossenbacher.

While some UW students worked minimum-wage summer jobs and
others were interning 60 hours per week, 10 EWB students spent the month of
July trying to make the world a more sustainable place, by building a water
collection and filtration system in one of the poorest communities in
east-central Africa.

UW senior John Lee, the Rwanda program leader, said the team
designed a large container to catch water for the community to access during
the dry season. EWB students also installed plumbing systems to bring all the
water to a central tank and purify it.

"We gave our ideas to people who were part of the vocational
school there, and with the tools and materials, they’ll install it," Lee said.

The goal for every EWB chapter, Lee added, is to create
sustainable systems to improve the living situations of those in poor
communities throughout the world. Every chapter builds a relationship with a
certain community and visits that specific community multiple times to
establish and improve sustainable systems, thereby improving residents’ quality
of life.

"If every Engineers Without Borders chapter had one village
they work in, then collectively everything would be that much better," Lee
said. "We continue to work with [Murumba] because the goal is to sustain a
relationship so we can see improvements in the long run."

Visiting a single location multiple times allows EWB
students to see, firsthand, the people their projects affect, said UW sophomore
Julia Wagner, who is planning EWB’s next Rwanda trip.

"There were so many children there," Wagner said. "You walk
into this village, and you’re greeted with 30 or 40 kids just crowding around
you, and you don’t see any adults there because of the genocide. It’s really
sad."

Lee added he feels he can impact the world by participating
in EWB programs.

"You don’t need to be a part of a big organization to help
make the world that you want to have," Lee said. "If you see the world in the
way you want it, you can really strive for that. You don’t need to graduate and
have a degree."

While students actively plan the organization’s trips and
projects, Grossenbacher said she helps students deal with the logistics of
traveling abroad.

"I’m making sure everybody knows what they need to do when
they’re getting ready to go to Rwanda," Grossenbacher said. "Now, I’m making
sure students get all kinds of release forms they have to get signed to show
they’re not going to hold the university liable if they get into some bad
situation [on their upcoming trip] to El Salvador."

EWB received $83,519 in segregated funds for the 2007-08 —
the first year EWB has applied for money through the Associated Students of Madison’s
Student Services Finance Committee.

UW Sophomore Brian Zimmerman, financial manager of EWB said
because the organization does most of their work internationally, the majority
of EWB’s segregated funds pay for travel expenses. But Zimmerman said funding
was not easy to get.

"There was a lot of red tape but understandably so, because
it’s the students' funds we’re spending," Zimmerman said. "Hopefully, [the
process] gets easier with time."

This semester, every UW student pays $429.08 in
segregated fees. A portion of this fee funds various student organizations
throughout campus, including University Health Services and the ASM Bus Pass.
Look for future features on other organizations that students help fund.