Destination Santisuk , Thailand

May 2003

On May 11, 2003 eight UNH students embarked on an unforgettable and life changing journey to a little village in Thailand . Our destination was named Santisuk (meaning “peace”), and the trip included EWB-UNH members Deana Aulisio, Jodie Bray, Lauren Dage, Jeff Garnett, Christian Kastrup, Seth Soos, Erin Stansiewski, and Mindy Weimer. The purpose of the trip was to provide a better life for people less fortunate than us; to experience new cultures; and, to transform our engineering knowledge into engineering skills through practice in a challenging situation.

When did it all start and how did we get to Thailand ?

The first meeting of the University of New Hampshire chapter of Engineers Without Borders was held in December 2002. It was the cornerstone meeting of our organization, where enthusiastic graduate and undergraduate students along with faculty met and expressed why they were interested in the organization. Headed by two very ambitious and enthusiastic women, Nadia Madden and Mindy Weimer, the meeting established interest and sparked desire in all those that attended. At the next few meetings we got to see a variety of different projects that the national organization of EWB-USA was currently working on. We chose to undertake two projects in Thailand with a drinking and waste water focus, as our chapter is largely composed of environmental engineers and UNH has a strong curriculum in those areas. The first project was to develop an improved drinking water system for the village of Santisuk . The second project was to install two separate leach fields for the village each to handle septic waste and gray water, water used for cooking, washing, and showering. I must admit that at the time I was skeptical. This project sounded so interesting and the idea of being able to travel to Southeast Asia to implement the design seemed out of reach. In fewer words, it was too good to be true. The idea of being able to travel to a place most of us had never been before, build a design that we worked on at UNH in a study lounge, and provide an entire village an improved way of life, seemed like a dream.

Thanks to the help of our campus student activities fund, the dream started to become our reality. Within the course of two days we received funding for the Thailand trip. In a time of ending war in the Middle East, SARS outbreaks in Southeast Asia, and uncertainty with traveling we could not believe that we were actually going to Thailand. No amount of turmoil in the world could stop us, and all these problems melted away as the first EWB-UNH project group dove in to finish the designs and fundraise. Thanks to many personal and professional contributions by friends, faculty, staff, and UNH organizations, we raised enough money to pay all our travel and immunization costs. On May 8^th, 2003 a send off party was held at which we presented our designs to a room full of faculty and students, friends and some family that were proud of us, supported us, and wanted to be going with us. On that day the vision that started only a few months came to life. We did not know how much our lives were about to change.

Project Santisuk , Thailand : May 13^th-18^th, 2003

We arrived in Santisuk tired and hungry, but you wouldn’t have thought that from the looks on our faces. We were excited about the next couple of days. Immediately we assessed the current drinking water system. It was a reservoir made of cement with a roof over it. There was no protection from debris or vandalism and the water was a brownish color. By most American standards, it was undrinkable. We then walked up to the spring. What we saw there was even worse. The “spring” consisted of water seeping out of mud, and orange algae was growing over everything.

Santisuk drinking water before treatment

In classes at UNH we were taught the best drinking water starts with the cleanest source. We knew immediately that the spring needed to be cleaned and protected. We then looked at the current septic system and determined where the most appropriate area would be to install the leach fields. The current system poorly dealt with the gray water waste. Basically the gray water pipes just flowed out the back of the buildings. It reminded me of colonial times when people just dumped the washbasins out the window of their homes. The septic tanks were new but there was no leach field. The flow out of the tanks went down a short pipe that was buried in the ground.

For the next four days we did more manual labor than I think anyone in the group was used to. The leach field group dug hard clay, layered rock, and connected pipes while the drinking water group worked in the jungle up to their knees in mud, carried cinder blocks up a mountain, and washed sand. Each evening we went swimming about a half of a mile from the village and ate great meals and shared our adventures of the day. Most of us were asleep by 9 o’clock ready to wake up and do it all over again the next day. We came to understand the ways of the pastoral life that we had become apart of. As we worked side by side with the men, women, and children of the village, we were accepted and respected by the Lahu villagers. They understood that we were there to help them. Despite the language barrier we were able to make jokes with them and laugh all afternoon in the blazing sun

When the last day came, we were filled with emotion. The Lahu people thanked us for a job well done. With smiles and tears we said goodbye. We could not believe what we had accomplished in such a short amount of time. In less than two months we had raised enough money to support the trip and in four days we completed the projects. Santisuk was wonderful. For a village whose name means peace, it surely was peaceful. Life took on a different beat while we were there. Even in our hotel after we had left village, we wanted to go back to Santisuk. The feeling we got when the Lahu people thanked us was so rewarding it makes the entire project worth it. For those few minutes when either English or Lahu or even Thai is the only language you speak, you know you all exchanged something unforgettable. We helped their lives by supplying them better water and conditions to live in, but they supplied us with a humble sense of being. We are fortunate to live where we do and to be able to study at UNH and take classes, but not one of us from EWB-UNH will take what we have for granted. We used what we have to help people. It was an amazing experience to apply our knowledge and skills to a cause that made the world a little better for a small group of people.

~Erin Stanisewski