During our spring break in March, 2011, ten other Washington University students and I traveled to Honduras to be involved in helping build a water system for a community there. El Canton had been in a desperate situation after they had tried to build one before that did not work properly due to poor planning from the engineer in charge of the project. Global Brigades saw this need and decided to help, along with college students from all over the country, El Canton create a system that would bring clean water to the community.
The first day was spent getting to know the other students on the trip- there were people from Rutgers University, and George Washington University that arrived on the same day that we had, as well has many other schools days before and after us- and learning about the specific water system for El Canton. It involved a lot of driving and hiking, but we also got to have our first interaction with the community. There were many people on the trip who did not speak Spanish, but everyone was able to communicate- even if it was just a smile and “Hola”.
The next day we were put to work. We spent the morning digging trenches with pickaxes and shovels. In front of us were people from the community doing the same thing. They were much faster than we were, and I think some got a good laugh at our pickaxe-ing skills, but it was amazing to see everyone working towards the same common goal. That afternoon, we met with the water council that the community had set up. The purpose of a water council is to ensure proper usage and governing over the system. We listened to their concerns and noted the progress already established.
The next two days we worked very hard on the system- I don’t believe I have ever been so sore in my entire life- but the last day was my favorite part of the trip. That entire week, we had been working with students from Rutgers on creating a curriculum for the area school on water quality. Global Brigades did not want to help establish this system if the community was not going to use it properly, so this education segment was to ensure that even the children of the community knew how important clean water is. We had a lecture that was integrated with skits, songs, and games. I know that the students loved having us there, and we all really enjoyed working with them!
All in all, it was an amazing trip. Seeing how something so important, such as water, is not available to everyone was very shocking to me. Everyone has the right to be able to drink as much water as they want, without the fear of getting sick. This is not the case in many countries, which is something I hope to help fix.