Tag: NGO

Like everything else he packed for his South Pacific jungle island adventure, David Hall needed his 2D CAD tool to be light and portable.

Hall is a civil engineer in the middle of a two-year assignment for Volunteer Services Abroad, a New Zealand economic development agency similar to the American Peace Corps. Along with his wife Rosie, he’s stationed in West New Britain, Papua New Guinea, an impoverished nation of 6 million where most of the population lives in remote rural areas without plumbing.

Coordinating with another volunteer service NGO called “Live and Learn,” Hall is helping local villagers:

• Install basic water supply systems to provide water in taps within the village and relieve the women and children of the daily chore of fetching water, often from miles away.
• Construct ventilated “longdrop” toilets as a sanitary alternative to the current practice of using the bush or beaches as bathrooms. The main component is a concrete slab with a hole in it (to squat over) and a ventilation pipe to minimize odors.
• Establish a hygiene education program to teach people the links between health and sanitation.

Because islanders cannot depend on a power supply for pumping, the water harvesting and filtration systems are based on gravity from either an elevated natural spring or a collection tank on a roof. Read More