Today is a really big day in the history of the ICBIE. At this very moment, a crew of Engineers Without Borders from Howard University in Washington, DC are climbing on a plane to fly to Salvador, where they will begin their big project to build a community theater at the ICBIE! This is a real dream come true!
Thanks to our friend Phillip Wagner at Rhythm of Hope, we filled out the big application to Engineers Without Borders in the fall of 2007; they accepted our application in December of that year, but then it took another ten months for a local EWB chapter to take on the project, until the people at Howard University signed on for it last October (see old ICBIE blog post). Here is a chart showing the procedure that we followed:
The United States division of EWB has 12,000 idealistic engineers, architects, medical professionals, teachers, and students in 300 chapters around the country, now working in 47 countries around the world. The Howard University chapter is very active, already working on projects in Panama and Kenya, and they have solid support, with a number of big corporations who help with their funding. On the Howard University website, they describe their programs (including ours) in their latest newsletter.
The EWB crew will work continuously for years, until the theater is fully equipped, to provide a model installation, ecologically friendly, built of local materials (they are planning a roof made of bamboo!) and suited to the particular needs of the community. The ICBIE is honored to have been chosen by these wonderful people, and we’re anxious to get going on the actual construction.
Check back with us often during the coming days… there’s going to be a lot of news!
