Lehigh University Athletics
Amado spends semester break in Honduras
1/10/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Golf
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BETHLEHEM, Pa. – As the calendar flipped to 2009, junior Livia Amado did more than just celebrate the New Year. The native of Brazil hopped on a plane and headed to Central America where she served as a translator for Lehigh’s Engineers Without Borders program. The program is working on constructing a water system for a small town in Honduras, called Pueblo Nuevo, and asked students from Lehigh’s International Relations department, including Amado, to find out about the dynamics of the town, its leaders, and politics. “What we did was to try our best to get the community involved in this project,” Amado explains. “We had meetings, presentations, and interviews and even showed up on the local television station, all to inform the local people about the project and help raise support for it.”
Following lots of time spent researching and gathering information, a water storage tank was constructed in Pueblo Neuvo in August and September of 2008. In January construction began on digging the trenches, and laying the pipes and electrical wires to get water to the tank. Lehigh will continue to work with the town to educate it on the new water system and the impact it was have on their lives.
“This was essentially a trip to do research for the Engineers, and so they tested the water, walked the pipe route, and went to see other water tanks in communities throughout the area,” Amado explained. “It was an eye-opening experience and one that I will never forget.”
