Canal work bridge to cultural exchange

EAST CHICAGO – For a group of 10 engineering students at Valparaiso University spring break this year was a week's worth of work in Tanzania.

Students with the Engineers Without Borders program at Valparaiso were in the village of Masaera to help repair an irrigation canal that local residents rely upon to help grow their crops and to provide fresh water for cooking and drinking.

Five of those students appeared Thursday at East Chicago Central High School to talk about their work. The high school students had an interest in the project because earlier this school year they raised slightly more than $500 for supplies that enabled the Mandaka School in Masaera to build a roof over a new building that houses the school's kitchen.

Tim Staub, president of the Valparaiso University chapter of the group that encourages engineering students to consider using their skills to benefit people in less fortunate parts of the world, said the irrigation canal project was a challenge because they had to adapt their knowledge to coincide with the construction skills and resources available in Tanzania.

"We had to keep things simple, otherwise they may not have the technology to fix things if our work breaks down," he said.

Specifically, he cited mixing cement for a canal floor since the old floor had been reduced to rock and gravel through the years. But the machines that mix materials into cement are not available in Masaera, where workers mix them by hand.

"We had to incorporate their way of doing things into our way of doing them," Staub said, adding that supplies had to be considered, since Masaera, population 2,300, does not have anything resembling a hardware store. The nearest stores were an hour's drive away on days when a vehicle was available.

During their stay, they were cared for by the Maua Franciscan Sisters Center, where four nuns cooked for the students.

Staub said he thinks the student group helped to improve the local quality of life. He said another group plans to return to Masaera next year to help resolve a situation with the irrigation canal where a portion of it has turned into a virtual waterfall – with the waterflow providing extra wear on the concrete floor.

Not that the trip was all work and no play. Michelle Roy, an incoming president for the Valparaiso chapter, said the students interacted with locals.

She even recalled a soccer match the future engineers played against local children. That match ended in a tie, although Roy admitted that one of the goals for the local youths was actually scored by the engineers against themselves.

She also got her fill of the local crop – bananas.

"They fry them, they cook them, I had banana soup," Roy said. "If you like bananas, go to Tanzania. You will get a lot of them."