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"I recruit students to the club who have an interest in global issues and are willing to work on international development issues," Mohtar says. "Both Matt and Jennifer showed special interest in traveling overseas and working in less developed countries on water management issues. The qualities of international and global thinking and interest in volunteering were evident in both Jennifer and Matt."

"You should come to the callout meeting," Mohtar implored each last fall. "The goals of the organization are very similar to your own goals of helping people."

The speech was the same for Beyrouty and Allen because each is guided by similar altruistic ambitions. Upon graduation, both hope to join the Peace Corps.

In high school, Allen was a member of Compassion International, providing financial support for poor children worldwide. She has spent spring break in Texas, building a home with Habitat for Humanity.
Beyrouty, the son of Craig Beyrouty, MS '81, PhD '84, head of the Department of Agronomy, had volunteered at a homeless shelter, worked with youth groups, and was part of a church group that helped build an orphanage in Mexico.

Once the Purdue chapter was organized, all they needed was a project. Engineers Without Borders works primarily with international projects. But for a new group like the Purdue chapter, something like the Pine Ridge project seemed like a perfect fit.

"Pine Ridge has lots of mobile homes, scattered all over, some miles away from anyone or anything," Allen explains. "In general, the people who live on the reservation don't like the sense of community, of living close to one another. As a culture, they like to have their space, so many of the trailers are far away from any water or electricity."

Mohtar accompanied a Purdue delegation on a tour of the reservation in late May. After what amounted to several trust-building sessions with the residents of Pine Ridge, the Purdue chapter had its project: designing a 68-lot trailer park, each site with water, sewage, electricity, a sidewalk, driveway and concrete pad. The design will have to take into account the residents' cultural inclination to be uncrowded.

A pretty ambitious project for a group of students.

"None of us are professional engineers," Beyrouty admits. "I think we were all overwhelmed when we first saw the site, but then we realized how many great resources we have at Purdue that can help us get this project completed."

At chapter meetings, students have met with Purdue experts in everything from landscape architecture to engineering to Native American culture. Different students were put in charge of three primary phases of the Pine Ridge Project. Allen is coordinating the urban development design. Beyrouty is responsible for designing the storm water system and erosion control structures. Gale Ruttanaphon, a management student, is coordinating the sewage and incoming water design portion of the project.

"What we found on our trip was that, by our standards, they are poor," Allen says. "But by their standards, they are not. The people of Pine Ridge we met were so friendly; they were willing to share anything they have with us. And now,
we want to help them, even though our expertise may be somewhat limited."

The Purdue chapter hopes to have a design completed during this semester, make presentations to the national office of Engineers Without Borders as well as residents of Pine Ridge this winter, and be on hand to watch the ground-breaking next summer.

Residents of the reservation will provide manpower for the project, but the students must secure funding.

"I've learned so much just from learning the process of trying to get funding," Beyrouty says. "Now I know how to apply for a grant."

But that's not all he's learned through his brief association with Engineers Without Borders.

"Yeah, this project is about engineering and it's about helping people without asking for anything in return," Beyrouty admits. "But it's more than that. It's about building a trust between vastly different people so they know we want to help them."
Contact Allen at allen16@purdue.edu
Contact Beyrouty at mbeyrout@purdue.edu