My First Experience in Another Country

–My First Experience in Another Country

Traveling to any foreign country for the first time can be a bit scary. Traveling to a foreign country with people you’ve never met before and a professor that you’ve only had for about 4 months can be even scarier, but I took the risk. I am Monique and I attend the university of toledo. I am a current sophomore studying chemical engineering, but during the trip I was a freshman. During my first semester at the university, I was enrolled in a class labeled as ‘The Introduction to Chemical Engineering’. This class allowed me as a student to study mass balances, systems, and do a longer project on water treatment systems. The project consisted of working in groups of four, along with a mentor who traveled to El Salvador to work and maintain the systems. As a group, we studied a unique system created by Judy and Jerry Bohl, the founders of Clean Water for the World. We created a presentation explaining their system, presenting some advantages and disadvantages of it, and comparing it to other systems already created that may be more effective. Upon completion, we were then given the opportunity to join in the interview process where eight selected students would be given the chance to spend their first Spring Break in San Salvador, El Salvador purifying water. Now, I was someone who was fairly shy, but was confident in my presentation that I had given prior. I was prepared to answer any questions about why I wanted to attend this trip, what this trip would mean to me, and what I wanted to give back and also receive during this unique experience. After a week of angst and waiting, I recieved the great news that I was selected by our professor and students who previously attended this trip to go to El Salvador.

 

–What I was able to learn

While on this trip I wanted to learn about the water purification system and be educated on how to install one. I also wanted to learn from the people of El Salvador ways to administer to their specific community in terms of where to set up the system and in what ways we could encourage the community to use it. In regards to the engineering aspect of learning, I was able to gain experience and knowledge from both our group and the people of El Salvador. The very first systems we performed maintenance on were fairly easy because the people kept up on the cleanliness and changed the filters when they were supposed to. The water purification system they created was a very unique and advanced system. Although the system was taken care of in some communities, in others it needed quite a bit of work. Some communities had no drive to use the system due to the fact that it was either inconveniently located, or they did not have running water 24 hours a day. We learned how to explain the system fully, how to change UV bulbs, inspect filters, reset the ballast, as well as install one system in a community. Installing the system was the best experience in the engineering aspect because as a group we were able adhere to the needs of the community while also facing challenges that we were able to overcome with the help of the people. We also were able to survey people of the community about how the system impacted them specifically. The data that we received was mostly positive feedback from communities about how the system impacts them. For example, many of the communities said that by using this water treatment system they are less sick compared to before.

–Interactions & My Future

While I was nervous to go on this trip at first due to the fact that everyone who was going I would say was a stranger to me, the group was more perfect than I could have imagined. All nine of us, including our mentor Kayla, created such a bond before the trip, during the trip, and continue to still communicate after. We held several meetings before the trip where we did team bonding activities and were able to get to know one another better. We spent hours upon hours each week planning, discussing, and executing this trip. As a group we bonded through our desire to learn a new culture and way of life by going to El Salvador. This trip allowed all of us to build relationships that we will remember forever. Louis, Evelyn, Krista, Jose, Chipe and Miguel all impacted our lives significantly. Being able to both give and receive so much knowledge from this trip allowed us to better ourselves and others. Every person we encountered in El Salvador impacted my life in a way in which I will never forget. As a student at the University of Toledo, I am proud to share my experience being in El Salvador with others and encourage them to experience a new culture. In my future, I plan to help better water treatment systems while working in the Chemical Engineering field. I have hopes to further study sustainability and environmental issues both at home and abroad. I also plan to return to El Salvador to better my knowledge on issues in relation to water and life there.