The Portland Maine Professional Chapter of Engineers Without Borders (EWB) had another rewarding year in 2018:

The chapter made two trips to El Progreso, Ecuador to help design and construct a drinking water system; and in Debre Birhan, Ethiopia, another team witnessed the completion of the first school building.

In Ecuador, the El Progreso community’s water supply flows from different locations. The project goal is to create a central system that conveys water from one reliable source directly to homes.

Each travel team spent its vacation time trekking through the sugar cane fields and cloud forests that flank the steep slopes. They will return this summer to continue construction, aiming to have the system installed and running in 2020.

In Debre Birhan, the new school will provide education for about 1,000 K-8 students. The EWB chapter was responsible for the structural design and site civil work.

The EWB team was thrilled when the education department named the school “Wegagen.” As the education minister explained: “When the darkness is over and the first light of day comes to us, in Amharic we call it Wegagen.”

The first 47 first-graders were enrolled within two weeks of the building’s completion.

Local business support is essential to the Portland EWB chapter’s mission. We are grateful to:

• Haley & Aldrich, Inc.;
• Wood PLC;
• Woodward & Curran, Inc.;
• EnviroTech Associates, Inc.;
• Becker Structural Engineers, Inc.;
• Credere Associates, LLC;
• Schonewald Engineering Associates, Inc.;
• Kleinschmidt Assoc.;
• SMRT, Inc.;
• T.Y. Lin International;
• Acorn Engineering, Inc.;
• Baker Design Consultants;
• Casco Bay Engineering;
• R.W. Gillespie & Associates;
• Sea Dog Brewing Co.;
• S.W. Cole Engineering, Inc.;
• Walsh Engineering Associates, Inc.;
• Wright- Pierce;
• Drumlin Environmental, LLC;
• Stephen Arnold Consulting;
• Winchester Mechanical.

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