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View the pictures from this trip.

Anna Lee's Journal

There is not a word that can properly describe my experience in Honduras. As an engineering students, I considered AguaClara projects project only as an opportunity for me to be exposed to real engineering projects. However, this trip has allowed me to see that this is not just an engineering project but so much more. AguaClara plants, not only bring clean water to the town's people, but it is a way for the town's people to come together as a community and to work towards one goal that is to give their children , to provide clean water to their families.

In Agalteca, my research team, inlet manifold team drained one of the sedimentation tank to change the manifold. We thought this would not take long, but to our surprise, fabricating the new manifold design took a long time and the water level in the distribution tank was decreasing really fast. At this point, it hit me. This - this is a "real" situation! If we don't hurry up and fill up the sedimentation tank again, we the town is not going to have enough water! The town's people worked hard to maintain this plant, and who am I to come suddenly all of a sudden and do things that would result in no water. No matter how good my intentions were, I thought this was something that the town's people does not deserve. I was so focused on restoring the sedimentation tank so the town's people would not have to suffer from our bad estimation of time. This sense of urgency and important importance were some things that I could definitely not have been able to experience in basement lab in Hollister.

Seeing this social aspect aspects of AguaClara project, has reminded me the fundamental truth about engineering. Engineers work for the betterment of people. They should not work for the sake of high technology or anything else but should find motivation from people's needs and wants. I think, working in front of computers and spending hours in labs, it is so easy to forget why and for whom we are working for. This trip has definitely showed me the greater need of active engineers in the world, who are willing to work outside of their labs and offices, out of their comfort zones, to really understand the needs of underprivileged people by living with them and sharing their culture.

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