Engineers Without Borders at MSU: World Cup

Karibu! Welcome!

Since 2004, EWB@ MSU's professional and student volunteers have worked with community members in Khwisero, Kenya to provide water and sanitation infrastructure at the district's 58 primary schools, making it easier for Khwisero's children to avoid waterborne disease and get an education.

In that time, the group has grown from a small club to one of MSU's premier student organizations, raising hundreds of thousands of dollars to fund seven borehole wells, six composting latrines and a biogas latrine that serve thousands of community members.

Thank you for joining us as we continue to work hand-in-hand with local partners to make a difference in one small part of our world. As Western Kenya's limited internet access allows, we will update this blog while in-country with the successes, stories and lessons provided by our work.

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

World Cup

Until recently, I wasn't much of a soccer fan. Spending time in Africa during the South African-hosted World Cup thispast month has changed that.

It's hard to understate how big a deal the World Cup is here, especially when it's hosted on the continent. Even out in the rural Khwisero district, there seems to be at least one TV tuned to every game anywhere there's access to power. We haven't yet had to plan meetings around games, but I suspect we'll need to as the tournment comes to a head.

I have to admit that I wasn't too disapointed when the US team lost to Ghana last weekend, advancing the latter as far in the tournament as an African team has ever gone. Watching pride build among Kenyans as an African nation competes with developed global powers has been nothing short of inspirational.

The excitement is contagious, from watching games with European tourists in our hostel to Kenyan locals in a social hall in Khwisero. During Ghana's heartbreaking penalty-kick loss to Uruguay last night (which we watched in Nairobi with out taxi-driver-turned-friend Godwin), everyone in the room was caught up in the drama--the silence after the sudden loss was nearly total.

If nothing else, that experience is a reminder that we're here in Africa to do more than simply build wells and latrines (not that that's necessarily something to call simple, of course). There's also a lesson to be learned in what it means to be part of a common human experience. Of which, perhaps, there are few better examples than the World Cup.

Eric