Spring Break
Engineers Without Borders founder urges change
Anthony Cesarini
Issue date: 2/29/08 Section: News
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During his acceptance speech, Amadei explained that engineers need to think outside of the box and challenged everyone in attendance to ask him or herself how he or she can make a positive change in the world.
"We need to change our mindset," he said. "Problems cannot be solved with the same mindset that created them. We need engineers who can bring their hearts into the equation."
According to Amadei, the idea for EWB was born literally in his back yard.
After he bought a home in Boulder, Colo., Amadei hired three Belizeans to landscape his property. During the work, one of the workers talked to Amadei about the low quality of life and the lack of sanitation that affects many Belizean villages. He asked Amadei if he would visit some day, and Amadei said yes. However, Amadei said he did not take the commitment seriously and continued with his work as a professor.
In the summer of 1999, Amadei received an e-mail from the worker who asked the professor to keep his promise and visit Belize.
Amadei described himself as a geotechnical engineer and indicated that he was used to working on large-scale projects. To him at the time, visiting a poverty-stricken village seemed like a small task.
However, Amadei agreed and traveled to Belize in April 2000. Upon arriving in San Pablo, Amadei noticed that the town had no clean water and that young girls were given the task of carrying water from the closest water source to the village. Because of this, they were unable to attend school. He also found that women in the village had to travel on bicycle one hour to the nearest town with nurses when they were about to give birth to their children; some died or gave birth on the way.
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