MANKATO — Often you’ll hear of volunteer groups traveling to Africa and South America to dig wells or build clinics.

Students might travel over a spring or winter break and see the fruits of their labor unfold in a two- or three-week period. Derek Olinger may never see the fruits of his. Not firsthand, anyway. That’s not how Engineers Without Borders works.

The group, which does engineering and development work in disadvantaged communities around the globe, makes a commitment to a community for at least five years. And instead of simply building standard facilities, the group works side by side with community members to learn what their specific needs are. As such, several assessment trips might be taken to the adopted village before work is actually begun.

“In the past, groups have gone into a community and they say, ‘Oh, you don’t have running water or flushing toilets. We’re just going to give you this stuff,’ and they don’t talk with them about their specific needs,” Olinger said. “We do project identification, assessment and implementation while working with the community, and they’re making just as many decisions about what they need as we are.”

Olinger, a senior at Minnesota State University, has taken two trips to El Salvador with the MSU chapter of the group, which last year committed to a water-distribution project in Santa Rosa Senca, a village in a volcanic mountain area of El Salvador with about 300 families.

Over winter break, Olinger and other students, as well as a professional engineer mentor, studied the village’s water problems, which include issues with pressure and pipe blowouts. Usually, there are several hours each day when the majority of users don’t have water.

In early summer, a fresh group of students and another professional mentor will use the research and project notes taken by Olinger and the others to begin implementation of a new system. Materials are purchased in El Salvador, and villagers help with the labor and pitch in what they can. But the total project likely will take place over various trips and total about $25,000.

Chris Cavett — an engineer with Short Elliott Hendrickson who also serves as a mentor to the group — said the project was a good size for the MSU chapter, which is still new on campus. Santa Rosa Senca has an established water system and a functioning water board, which makes the job easier on a fledgling organization.

“It wasn’t overwhelming in size,” he said.

Projects may include controlling erosion around the pipe in steep inclined areas, mapping the existing water system, solving problems with high pressure areas in the existing system by installing a pressure break tank, and expanding the water system to new families, among other things.

“Basically, we don’t leave the community until the project is done,” Olinger said.

Olinger will be long gone from MSU by then, as will most of the students who helped see the project through to the finish. But being a part of the process is what matters, and Olinger will likely be connected to the group after college.

“I’ll still be involved with the chapter. If you’re not a student, you can be a professional mentor, and you can still travel with the group,” he said. “I’ll still be able to see what happens with the project.”

Cavett might make the trip in early summer. He went with the group on its first trip to Piedras Azules, and he and his wife, Karen, served in the Peace Corps in Central America after college.

“(Engineers Without Borders) was a good fit with what we used to do,” Cavett said. “It was something I wanted to get involved with.”

The MSU chapter of Engineers Without Borders, which has been on campus since 2010, is now working on fundraising for the project and travel costs. They also want new members. So far, mostly engineering students have been a part of the group. But Olinger said the group needs the help of students with varying skills, including marketing.



Anyone interested in donating to Engineers Without Borders can send checks to: EWB-Minnesota State University, 205 Trafton Science Center East, Mankato, MN 56001.

For more information, visit rso.mnsu.edu/engineerswithoutborders/.