Danielle Varnes, an international relations major, poses with a group of Yua children during her trip to their small African village this summer to help solve the community's critical water issues.

Trip to Ghana proves
life changing for students, village

In Arizona, the luxury of clean running water still remains. But across the globe in Ghana, where people are accustomed to hauling, collecting and carrying buckets of water for daily use, every drop counts.

"I was never able to conceptualize that underprivileged lifestyle until I went to Ghana," said Paul Trotta, civil and environmental engineering professor. "It just blew me away."

A small group of Northern Arizona University students followed Trotta to northern Ghana this summer to help find solutions to a small village's most pressing water problems. Yua lacks the most basic necessities, including potable drinking water and toilet facilities, all of which contribute to the spread of disease and quality of life.

Representatives from NAU's Engineers Without Borders, top row from left, Jaina Moan, Ben Moan, professor Paul Trotta, Danielle Varnes and Jared Travis, pose with members of the Yua community outfitted in "True Blue" NAU gear.

After nearly nine months of planning, a 16-day trip to western Africa by NAU's Engineers Without Borders turned out to be a much more profound, life-changing experience than they ever could have prepared for.

"What these students are doing is above and beyond any curriculum, and I haven't been this excited about anything in a really long time," Trotta said. "Working hands-on in a partnership with the Yua community allowed us to better understand their problems, and it's a great example of the benefit of international education."

Benjamin Moan and Jared Travis, environmental engineering graduate students, Danielle Varnes, international relations undergraduate student, and Jaina Moan, environmental policy graduate student, learned real-world problems first hand in Ghana and conducted assessments to understand the community's issues and what they needed.

Evaluations included water sampling to assess bacteria counts and looking at aspects of community health, including who has access to clean water and where people go to the bathroom.

They determined that only half of the people in Yua have access to potable water and even fewer have access to flushable toilets. Upon returning to Flagstaff in August, the group identified a number of solutions, including the building of new wells and sanitary toilet systems.

"Our water tests found fecal bacteria in the water, which is due to the lack of proper bathrooms, and this is contributing to the spread of disease," Travis said. "The building of brand new water and toilet systems will keep the two areas separate, thus limiting the contamination of the clean water."

Now that solutions have been identified, the group is eager to move on to the next step. They plan to return to advise the community on how to implement their recommendations.

"When we go back in May 2008, we will serve as technical advisers for the community," Moan said. "Working with community leaders and studying our data assessments will help us decide on a course of sustainable change. Then we'll teach them the process and build together."

Moan estimates estimate that water sustainability will be set in place within the next five to six years and stresses that the need for volunteers goes beyond engineers. Most projects also need the help of sociologists, anthropologists and public relations practitioners.

"The relationships we made with the people of Ghana are priceless and the impact that having clean water will have on their lives is overwhelming," Varnes said. "We're personally committed to helping these people gain access to clean water, and we're not going to let them down."

Information on NAU's Engineers Without Borders is online, or visit the national web site. Read the student's online blog from Ghana.