How it all began...

For the rest of 2009 I will be living and working in Ibarra in Northern Ecuador to undertake engineering development with PRODECI, an Ecuadorian Non-Government Organisation.  I was chosen by the charity Engineers Without Borders UK to undertake this placement, and I have been given leave from my work at Tony Gee and Partners until early 2010.  More information on the organisations involved can be found here:

http://www.prodeci.org

http://www.ewb-uk.org

I will be working on the following engineering projects during the six months:

1. The design and construction of ten school buildings to serve rural mountainous communities.

2. The design and installation of twenty small scale water supply schemes.

Over the past weeks and months I have been preparing for this placement through technical and non-technical training courses, Spanish language courses, and lots of reading on the wider issues of humanitarian development.  

I have been lucky to met some really inspirational people during the past few weeks: some of them wise and experienced development workers who have seen it all through decades in Africa... and some other young and willing engineers, like me, ready to start out on their development placements in the far corners of the world.

I leave for Ecuador on Friday 10th July, so I have a few final days here in the UK to finalise the paperwork and see some friends and family.  

I'm really excited about arriving in Ecuador later this week, and looking forward to meeting the people I will be working with over the next six months. I will try to keep this blog up to date with photographs and stories about my adjustment to life in the sub-tropical Andes, and more importantly how the projects are improving schools, education, water, sanitation, and the quality of life of communities in the area.