Just Add Water

The Newsletter of Engineers in Action

just add

Water

Volume 1, Issue 2

February 2022

From the Executive Director In a busy, complex international organization such as Engineers In Action, connecting staff, board, donors and partners across our mission can be a challenge. Under “normal” circumstances, there is much to be done and a lot of miles spanning that scope of work. With the COVID-19 pandemic limiting travel and adding new and changing responsibilities to get the job done, it has become even more difficult to keep our community connected. Of course we continue to be grateful for technology that allows us to see one another via video conferencing, but across many time zones and a myriad of schedules, something is still missing.

Several months ago I invited our team members around the world to start a new EIA photo album of sorts. I asked them to share photos “that tell a story about the country where you live or work, places you love to visit, or what you find beautiful in your surroundings.” Through these photos, I hoped we could continue to learn about and care for one another and to appreciate the uniqueness of each person and their contribution to family, community and to EIA. A wonderful album we’re calling “Beauty the World Around” is being assembled and over the next few months, we’ll share a few of the pages!

Right now, our whole organization is focused on the activities that support our ambitious objectives for 2022 as well as digging in on some of the important strategic thinking that will ensure that EIA deepens its impact in the years to come.

This photograph, titled “Working in the Valley, Sorata” submitted by Bolivia team member Andrei Xavier De la Barra is a kind of a visual metaphor for this exciting time: the focus needed to stay true to and relentlessly execute on our mission and, the boundless landscape that is yet to be explored.

Isn’t it beautiful?

Julie Allen

Water is at the heart of Engineers In Action’s mission.

With our community partners, we build systems and infrastructure that provide water that is clean and accessible for drinking and cooking, for sanitation and good hygiene, and for growing food.

When it is a barrier to school, healthcare or employment, we construct safe passage over it.

To change lives and transform communities - “Just Add Water.”

Love Lives On in a Bridge for Meredith Patrick Malone

My awareness of the need for providing “Last Mile” infrastructure for communities in need began back around 2012. In many developing countries, communities struggle to obtain basic needs such as water and medical care because they lack paved roads or other infrastructure that would allow services to reach their village. Once my eyes were opened, I immediately saw this as an opportunity to use talents as an engineer to help others. In 2015, I was able to participate in my first bridge build in Panama with my 17-year-old daughter, Macey. The following year we were unable to do a build, but my younger daughter Meredith, went with me to Bolivia for a meeting of Bridges to Prosperity, an organization committed to ending rural isolation through constructing bridges. At the time I was serving on their board. While there, we attended a bridge inauguration for a local community. Upon seeing the effect this bridge had on the community, Meredith immediately expressed her interest in giving back and stated that she wanted to join a bridge build as soon as she could. I told her when she turned 16, she could do a build.

In March of 2020 Meredith finally celebrated that birthday, but due to COVID-19 we were not able to do a build that summer. Unfortunately, even when the pandemic passes, she will never get that chance.

That October, Meredith called my wife and I and let us know she had passed out at school. By the time we got to her school they had packed her into an ambulance and were rushing to the nearest hospital. There we learned that the blackout was caused by a blood clot that had developed from use of oral contraceptives she had started taking for weight management. We later learned this was all too common with oral contraceptives. Meredith’s condition did not improve and on October 13, we lost our little girl. Here was this precious little girl, who would never achieve what she could have. Her interest in problem solving and improving other’s lives better could not be used to make the world brighter.

Lost and looking for how I might somehow keep her legacy alive and to somehow make sense of what had happened, a life-long friend of mine asked, “Why not build a bridge in her name?” Once the seed was planted, I was determined to make this come true. Following God’s path, I began working with Engineers in Action to identify a potential site for this bridge. Once we identified the site in Huaraca, Bolivia and with the purpose set, it was just a matter of making it happen.

Honored to help build this bridge in Meredith’s name and for the community of Huaraca, a team of builders quickly came together, including my colleagues at PCL Construction and some of my hometown friends. As for fundraising, we had people come out of nowhere helping us fund the project to make the bridge a reality. Late this past summer the team, including my wife Susan and Meredith’s Uncle Gary, set out for Bolivia. Working over the next two weeks this team worked with the community and our partner organization Engineers in Action to deliver the project.

Today, a 52 meter bridge, lovingly named the “MerBear Memorial Bridge” now spans the Huaraca river, creating a lifeline for the 1,260 people in the surrounding communities who previously were isolated when the riverbed, which served as the lone road way in and out of the community, flooded. Before construction of the bridge, there had been 20 injuries and 5 deaths in recent years during attempted river crossings in the rainy season.

Love Lives On cont.

Although we will forever miss our MerBear and grieve about all she would have accomplished and experienced, her spirit lives on in the opportunity and safety her bridge provides. Each time a community member crosses her bridge to school, to market, to receive health care or find employment, she is honored.

Love lives on.

Patrick Malone is the Director, Business Development at PCL Construction.

He is the husband of Susan and father of daughters Meredith and Macey, mentioned in the story above.

In 2021 Patrick joined the board of Engineers In Action and is currently serving as the Treasurer of the Board.

Note: March is National Blood Clot awareness month.

Learn more at https://www.stoptheclot.org/about-clots/

Welcome to The Book Drop where we’ll be sharing great books that offer perspective on the work we do and the way we do it. And because you can never have too many good books to read, follow us on Facebook where we’ll feature a different selection every Friday.

In celebration of World Water Day March 22 in this issue we are featuring some great reads that broaden our understanding about water and how to protect it.

Blue Mind: The Surprising Science That Shows How Being near, in, on, or under Water Can Make You Happier, Healthier, More Connected, and Better at What You Do Wallace J. Nichols.

Almost Nothing, yet Everything: A Book about Water Hiroshi Osada with Ryoji Arai, Illustrator.

Translated from the original Japanese by David Boyd

We Are Water Protectors Carole Lindstrom with Michaela Goade, Illustrator One Well: The Story of Water on Earth From the Citizen Kid series Rochelle Strauss with Rosemary Woods, Illustrator

Bridge Program Welcomes New Staff Please join us in welcoming Steve Mezzacappa, Development Coordinator and Gopi Ramathan, Bridge Program Coordinator to the team.

You’re joining a great endeavor; empowering and developing engineering students to become global leaders by building bridges with underserved communities.

H2GO! is back for 2022 and everyone is invited to join in April 1–30.

H2GO is an individual and team step challenge to raise your spirits and your heartbeat, while also raising funds to support Engineers In Action’s mission to provide needed infrastructure like clean water systems and bridges in rural communities in the developing world.

The best part is, this event takes place whenever it’s convenient for you, wherever you are. Walk, bike, dance, skate, serve and volley…you do you! As in 2021, you can build a team, connect with other participants, and “visit” beautiful destinations and get to know the communities where EIA is making a difference.

Registration opens March 1.