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A CAREER THAT MAKES A DIFFERENCE From an early age engineer Sachini De Silva had an interest in pursuing a career that would have a positive impact on the community. She attended an all-girls school, where there was a lot of encouragement for students to consider careers in STEM. After taking part in a program where she had the opportunity to experience ‘a day in the life of an engineer’ she realised it was a profession that would allow her to combine her skills with her passion for humanitarian impact. During her time studying Engineering at UNSW, Sachini volunteered for Engineers Without Borders in their WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) team which was an eye-opening experience and took her ideas further than she ever imagined possible. “One of the first Engineers Without Borders projects I worked on was for a community in Cambodia, where over 100,000 people live in floating villages, one being on the Tonle Sap Lake, the largest freshwater lake in Asia. The water is used by children to play in and is used for washing dishes and clothes. The same water is also used for depositing human waste as most people cannot afford a toilet.” “Designing local solutions for global impact, we developed a ceramic filter made from fired clay that can treat the water so that it is safe to use on a household level, reducing the spread of disease,” said Sachini.
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She then joined Aurecon as a graduate and one the first projects she worked on was Project Gilghi, a breakthrough grid water purifying system for use remote Indigenous communities.
Sachini played an integral role in Project Gilghi, which provides clean water to Indigenous communities
Gilghi means ‘water’ or ‘place of water’ in the Barkindji (Baar-kinji) Indigenous language and this project provided the community of Gillen Bore with ownership over their water supply, where the longterm sustainability of the water supply is guaranteed, health outcomes can be improved and employment opportunities are created. “Access to clean drinking water is a problem throughout the world and in Australia affects communities in more remote locations. More than 48,000 Australians rely on groundwater as their only option for water supply. Having clean water is a significant step towards UN Sustainable Development Goal 6, where Gilghi has provided immediate and permanent access to clean and contaminant free drinking water.” Sachini said, “As a graduate, Gilghi was an incredible opportunity to learn from senior leaders in Aurecon like Julian Briggs, Global Expertise Leader for Water and Wastewater Treatment, because I got to work directly with him. At Uni you’re focused on your own degree, which for me was chemical engineering. But when you work on these types of projects, you learn how important it is to collaborate with other technical disciplines, where I had the chance to work with our partner Ampcontrol and learn about electrical systems.” When asked what advice she would give to young women looking to pursue careers in STEM, Sachini said networking is key. “Network as much as you can and talk to people. What still surprises me, is just how big the engineering industry is and all the things that I can learn and contribute to by being a part of it. I now have very successful and visible role models that I look up to. Each of them has taken a different path and by learning from them over the years I understand there are different ways to get where they are. Some might work for me or not, but through networking I learn and continue to develop.”
THE NAWIC JOURNAL
