UA Engineers Without Borders Continues Community Service With Hale County

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – When residents of Hale County realized their community did not have a recreational field equipped for their children to play baseball, they called The University of Alabama’s Engineers Without Borders for help. When members of the community were being billed hundreds of dollars for water they never received because of faulty pipes or leaks in their homes, EWB was there.

Members of EWB, a student organization that partners with disadvantaged communities around the world to design and implement engineering projects that improve the quality of life in these communities, have taken advantage of their talents and skills by using their engineering expertise to benefit others in local communities, especially areas in Hale County.

Most recently, EWB traveled to Greensboro to join with other volunteers in the organization’s most challenging project– relief efforts following a tornado that had hit the town.

Upon their arrival, members of the organization began distributing building supplies, such as lumber and roofing material, to the various volunteer groups who were also helping in the cleanup process.

“We were all surprised at the extensive damage caused by the storm,” explained Josh Hamilton, a senior majoring in electrical engineering and president of EWB. “The area where we were unloading supplies appeared to be a vacant lot, but we were told there had once been a house there before the tornado destroyed it just a few days earlier. That was hard for all of us to imagine, and it made us see how much our efforts were needed.”

After traveling to the outskirts of the town, EWB joined other volunteer groups to work on the roofs of two houses that had been severely damaged. One of the homes required an 8-by-10-foot section to be replaced and re-shingled. The other residence, a mobile home with a secondary roof, had a piece of roof blown off of the house. EWB helped build a replacement roof approximately 15 feet by 30 feet to cover the home.

Efforts are currently being made by EWB to design onsite septic systems for two Hale County families whose homes were destroyed by the tornado.

The trip to help with tornado relief efforts was the first time some of EWB’s members had visited Hale County, and they were astonished to see some of the locations in which the residents were living. “Most students just do not understand that there are people living in substandard conditions just 30 minutes down the road from our beloved college town,” explained Hamilton.

Members of EWB had originally planned to visit Hale County to work with some housing foundations. However, after the tornado hit the area, HERO Housing Resource Center, an organization aimed at reducing substandard housing conditions in Hale County, contacted EWB to see if they would come down early and help with clean-up efforts.

“EWB has served the residents of Hale County through many projects, and we have really grown attached to the area,” said Hamilton. “We take advantage of the opportunity to help these residents whenever we can.”

In 2007, EWB partnered with HERO to improve residential plumbing in Hale County. It was estimated that 50 percent of water sent to customers from the Hale County Water Department was lost because of bad piping and a decrease in water pressure. The first plumbing project that EWB completed was for an elderly couple who had a severe leak on an underground exterior pipe line to their home. EWB also fixed the plumbing of a woman whose faucets and toilets were leaking.

That same year, EWB united with the Black Belt Action Commission, an organization aimed at improving the quality of life in Alabama’s Black Belt region, to restore Curtis Smith Field, a run-down baseball field in Greensboro. Members of the Black Belt Action Commission sought EWB’s assistance after recognizing the need for improved recreational areas for their youth.

In June 2006 and 2007, members of EWB spent two weeks in Iquitos, Peru completing two service projects in the area. The group of students and two faculty advisers, Drs. Pauline and Philip Johnson, performed soil and water tests in two villages, and installed a generator and a wastewater system for one village. Members also made assessments for a bird watching tower in the Allpahuayo Mishana Reserve to promote ecotourism.

EWB plans to return to Peru in July 2008 to improve drinking water and wastewater systems in two village communities along the Amazon River.

“The reason we do this is simple,” said Hamilton. “We see a need in the community that we can meet, so we do it. Our goal as a group is to help those who are unable to help themselves.”

In 1837, The University of Alabama became one of the first five universities in the nation to offer engineering classes. Today, UA’s fully accredited College of Engineering has about 2,300 students and over 100 faculty. In the last seven years, students in the College have been named USA Today All-USA College Academic Team members, Goldwater scholars, Hollings scholars and Portz scholars.