WED., AUGUST 10, 2011 • INTER-COUNTY LEADER NORTHERN CURRENTS • SECTION B
Currents
THE-LEADER.NET
Follow the Leader
An award-winning newspaper serving NW Wisconsin
Providing the basics Luck grad brings sanitation, and secret money, to the poorest of the poor by Greg Marsten Leader staff writer LUCK – It is a stunning summer day, and Luck High Class of 2002 grad Chase Nelson is sitting in the Cafe Wren coffee shop, just north of his former hometown. His older sister, Aleah, is seated beside him, drinking in the surroundings of a shop they both used to work at as teens. In fact, their parents, Rocky and Carla Nelson, once owned the little coffeehouse, called Blarney & Beans, back then. The Nelson siblings are taking in the revised surroundings with the newness of returning visitors, commenting on subtle changes in layout, trim and even the expanded kitchen, menu and rest rooms. “This place looks amazing!” Chase said with raised eyebrows, noting the artwork and improvements since he last sat down as a customer. Aleah Nelson, herself an accomplished wildlife biologist in remote Alaska, is excited to get a tour and a fresh shot of java, while Chase tells of his adventures since graduating from Luck almost a decade ago. His are no ordinary adventures - as they involve charity, engineering, skills, patience, language and cultural barriers, and yes, sneaking money through customs to make it all happen. Chase drinks the hot Wren-blend java with the delicate touch of someone drinking a rare wine. Like the little coffee shop on Hwy. 35, much of what we take for granted here in rural Wisconsin has become a sort of novelty for the former Cardinal siblings in their digs of remote Alaska. Since graduating from Michigan Tech in 2007, Chase now works for Dowl Engineering outside Anchorage, building and designing water and sewer systems in
Siblings Chase and Aleah Nelson may now reside in remote Alaska, but they still appreciate a sunny Wisconsin day ... and a little Third World improvement. – Photo by Greg Marsten some of the most remote, truly rural parts of North America - fighting with a brutally cold environment, general distrust of outsiders and a lack of funding to bring America’s last state into the modern world of infrastructure. While that challenge is interesting enough, the once quiet Luck grad has not only made a career in environmental engineering in some of the most punishing environments of rural Alaska, he has decided to take his talents to some of the most impoverished areas of South America and Africa, bringing them kicking and screaming into the 20th century. And he does that for fun, on his own
Chase Nelson is pictured with Banze, one of his co-workers in Guatemala. Banze is from Kenya, and the two have worked together on various projects in both Central America and in Africa.
543096 51L
time and dime. “There’s definitely some overlap,” he admitted with a nod, noting how there are “lots of similarities” between a remote Alaskan village and impoverished, Third World settlements. He said that parts of Alaska are “at least 30 to 40 years behind” when it comes to infrastructure. Between permafrost, extreme climate and “a lack of ownership” in some of the projects, the challenges seem to dovetail between “The Last Frontier” of Alaska and the harsh and overburdened environments in Haiti,
Guatemala or Malawi, where he has spent as much as nine weeks a year helping to create safe drinking water, septic systems and more. Chase has been involved with an organization called the Appropriate Infrastructure Development Group, doing engineering work in Haiti, Bolivia and mainly in remote Guatemala, where he spent well over a year shortly after graduating from Michigan Tech. He was mainly doing design and developmental work on everything from water and sewer development to road and energy work, where they constructed water treatment facilities and an innovative biodigester, meant to convert animal waste into natural gas for cooking. His work with AIDG follows a solid mission, that the basics of poverty generally come down to the reality that one in three people on Earth, or roughly 2 billion people, don’t have the most basic services like electricity, sanitation or clean drinking water. AIDG is hoping to help overcome that brutal reality, helping to break the cycle of poverty in developing countries. “Funding is always a struggle,” Chase said. “Oftentimes, the clients have great plans, but can’t come up with the money,” he said of the projects, which have not only tested his talents, work ethic and will, but frankly, his stomach. “The reality is that if you do this kind of work, you will end up getting sick,” he said with a laugh - gingerly taking a bite of his pastry. Nelson’s older sister, Aleah, concurred, telling of a “working vacation” she took to visit her brother in Guatemala, and how illness becomes a reality of the region and also shows the importance of the work they do. “I made sure to put her to work!” Chase said, with Aleah laughing and then gri-
See Sanitation, page 2
Chase Nelson is seen here on a construction site in La Florida, Guatemala. The Engineers Without Borders team he works with is constructing a biodigestor for the conversion of animal waste into natural gas for cooking. – Photos submitted unless otherwise noted