Physical labor is not new for McCormick junior Izzat Katkhuda. Two summers ago he built orphanage classrooms in Tanzania with his high school in 90-degree weather.
But when he and McCormick junior Anita Budhraja led the group of nine Northwestern students to Costa Rica this summer, he realized construction work could be more difficult.
“We dug up foundations, put up bricks for houses,” said Katkhuda, who is from Jordan. “By the second day we were all really sore.”
And the team wasn’t using power tools.
According to Budhraja, the team of students from various NU schools used only shovels, pick-axes, wheelbarrows and their bare hands. But at the end of six days, only ceilings, water tanks and walls were left to build and install.
The team went through Habitat for Humanity, but their project started long before last summer.
Phillip Jacob, program assistant for the Institute for Design Engineering and Applications, went to Costa Rica in March to do a short assessment of the site to judge the feasibility of future projects.
Because IDEA aims to provide real world applications to concepts learned in engineering classes, Jacob said he was very interested in sending students to Costa Rica to do engineering-related projects there.
“We’re trying to take (IDEA’s) message and apply it to the international level,” he said. “Costa Rica was supposed to give students an opportunity to think beyond the confines of campus.”
But the obstacles to this goal are plentiful. Jacob said they needed funding, faculty support and student interest.
Although these projects in Costa Rica are on hold due to lack of funding and faculty support, Jacob said one obstacle IDEA does not face is attracting student interest.
IDEA had planned to have the trip be sponsored by NU, but because of a lack of funding and faculty support, participants paid their own way and the project was subsidized only partially by IDEA. The short notice forced the trip to be planned within less than two months.
While in Costa Rica, McCormick sophomore Rachel Frey, said she and her teammates were thinking about projects to bring back to IDEA and ways that NU students could help Habitat.
“I think there’s potential for IDEA to do a program,” Katkhuda said. “We just need a faculty supervisor.”
This summer, the team had no faculty supervisor, Kathuda said. They were met at the San Jose airport by a Habitat correspondent who took them to the site in San RaMonday, Costa Rica. Once there, a construction manager supervised them.
Although the team took time to focus on engineering applications, such as designing a built-in renewable energy system for the homes, only half of the team members are studying engineering.
Leo Suarez was one of these students. A Weinberg junior, Suarez took on the role of translator for the group. He also said the trip was a great experience for supplementing his majors, political science and international studies.
Jacob said a group of students are trying to plan a spring trip and are currently looking for funding. IDEA is not funding the spring trip at all. Suarez said while he hadn’t heard of the spring trip, he can’t wait to return.
“There’s no way I’m not going back,” he said.
Reach Corrie Driebusch at [email protected].
