From Modern Buildings to Mud Huts

By Tarwinder Rai
Communications - Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Sierra Jensen’s fascination with bridges may have attracted her to the civil engineering profession, but she quickly realized there’s more to it than boosting city skylines – it’s about improving the quality of life globally.

Jensen, a fourth year environmental engineering student, spent her summer in Zambia, Africa volunteering with the University of Alberta Chapter of Engineers Without Borders (EWB). Where in modern society engineers tackle issues facing developed municipalities; Jensen explained EWB volunteers take engineering back to the bare bones.

"It’s interesting to see how around the world we face all kinds of different challenges, but wherever you go, you will find people working to improve the living situation for themselves and the people around them," says Jensen, adding many of the projects she’s working on directly impact small scale farmers in Zambia.

Jensen is one of six EWB volunteers currently based in Zambia, who are partnered with International Development Enterprises (IDE), an organization dedicated to increasing farming incomes through a variety of projects. She is the only one located in Kabwe, Zambia. The projects range from linking farmers to input supplies for seed and fertilizer to promoting irrigation technologies.

"Many farmers are using buckets to irrigate their field, which takes a lot of time and energy. With IDE we’ve been promoting treadle pumps that are simple to operate and make irrigation a lot faster. For farmers, having a really great growing season doesn’t amount to much if you don’t have anyone to buy your produce, and we are working to link farmers to various output markets," says Jensen, adding she is also living on a farm that supports 15 family members and has no electricity.

"I’m learning how important farming really is. Families are hugely dependent on what happens with the farm. If there is a bad season, it really affects the rest of the family."

Jensen says produce prices in the region fluctuate regularly, where a crate of tomatoes can range from $4 CDN to $24 CDN at any given time. For farmers trying to make a profit, this is a huge set back.

"Being able to recognize when prices will be good is really important (for farmers). There are a lot of companies and transporters that present a really big market for farmers to sell their produce to. But in some areas there are a lot of challenges related to transporting produce or having companies trust small scale farmers to grow good quality produce. The IDE is looking at trying to reduce some of these challenges," she said.

In addition to improving irrigation techniques, Jensen explained capacity building and gender training are also vital for successful small scale farming. Farmers are trained on how to produce different crops, especially vegetables so they have better yields and are able to prevent diseases. The IDE also does gender training and promotes making the farm a family responsibility by involving women in the decision making process.

"The extent of how this experience has and is impacting me is probably something I will be discovering for months and years to come."

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