Mike Wheeler takes his engineering skills to Africa
This summer, Hopkins student Mike Wheeler helped install a water pump for a community in the KwaZulu Natal province in South Africa, as part of an experience with Engineers Without Borders.
When the job was done, the women of the village got together and sang a song for the group in gratitude.
"They just broke out into song and started singing and dancing. And then all the Hopkins kids decided that they wanted to teach the women an American tradition, so on the very last day we were there, they did the Macarena with the women, and basically taught them the Macarena," Wheeler said, laughing.
One of the things that Wheeler took away from his time with Engineers Without Borders (EWB) in South Africa was that simple engineering can really change a community.
Aside from being your usual Hopkins BME, Wheeler is a project leader for Hopkins' South Africa branch of EWB. During his time at Hopkins, he has been there three times to set up water pumps in different areas in KwaZulu Natal.
EWB responds to the needs of different communities through their Web site, where communities can post a problem that they have. EWB will then work on a solution, and send student groups over to try and remedy the problem.
In the case of South Africa, Wheeler explained that the problem was that there was not enough water in peoples' gardens, which they relied on for their food.
"These communities happen to be made up of gardens run by elderly women who are left there to care for it by themselves, because the middle-aged population has gone off to the cities to work or they have died because of the AIDS epidemic," Wheeler said.
In Wheeler's case, the solution to this problem - water pumps called "ram pumps," which draw water from sources running down below and bring it up to storage tanks in the gardens - had already been found, but EWB was still needed to install them and then do maintenance to make sure they were working.
The results of the installation of water pumps can sometimes be astonishing. Wheeler saw how much good one pump could do when he and his group checked up on a pump installed in a town in 2006.
When the job was done, the women of the village got together and sang a song for the group in gratitude.
"They just broke out into song and started singing and dancing. And then all the Hopkins kids decided that they wanted to teach the women an American tradition, so on the very last day we were there, they did the Macarena with the women, and basically taught them the Macarena," Wheeler said, laughing.
One of the things that Wheeler took away from his time with Engineers Without Borders (EWB) in South Africa was that simple engineering can really change a community.
Aside from being your usual Hopkins BME, Wheeler is a project leader for Hopkins' South Africa branch of EWB. During his time at Hopkins, he has been there three times to set up water pumps in different areas in KwaZulu Natal.
EWB responds to the needs of different communities through their Web site, where communities can post a problem that they have. EWB will then work on a solution, and send student groups over to try and remedy the problem.
In the case of South Africa, Wheeler explained that the problem was that there was not enough water in peoples' gardens, which they relied on for their food.
"These communities happen to be made up of gardens run by elderly women who are left there to care for it by themselves, because the middle-aged population has gone off to the cities to work or they have died because of the AIDS epidemic," Wheeler said.
In Wheeler's case, the solution to this problem - water pumps called "ram pumps," which draw water from sources running down below and bring it up to storage tanks in the gardens - had already been found, but EWB was still needed to install them and then do maintenance to make sure they were working.
The results of the installation of water pumps can sometimes be astonishing. Wheeler saw how much good one pump could do when he and his group checked up on a pump installed in a town in 2006.
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