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==About Me==
==About Me==
My name is Meghan Heintz, I'm currently studying environmental resource engineering at Humboldt State University. I choose this career path after meeting dozens of environmental refugees while spending my junior year of high school in Quito, Ecuador. My long term goal is to work in part as a wastewater or bioremediation engineer and in part as a cultural and language liaison on environmental projects in Latin America.  
[[Image:YucaMe.jpg|thumb|left|Me in the Yuca during a long day working with the alternative construction crew]]
My name is Meghan Heintz, I'm currently studying environmental resource engineering at Humboldt State University. I choose this career path after meeting dozens of environmental refugees while spending my junior year of high school in Quito, Ecuador. My long term goal is to work in part as a wastewater or bioremediation engineer and in part as a cultural and language liaison on environmental projects in Latin America.
 
==Background==
==Background==
The summer of 2010, I fell completely and madly in love with Chiapas, Mexico during my participation in HSU's appropriate technology program. My particular project,[[HSU Chiapas micro hydro feasibility study]], did not provide me with as much community interaction as I was hoping for. Therefore, I was extremely excited to be asked to return to Mexico as a grader the summer of 2011 and participate in more community based projects. However, due to violence in Northern Mexico, our appropriate technology program had to be moved to the Dominican Republic. I'll admit I was disappointed in the location change but only until I saw the beautiful white sand beaches surrounding Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic.
The summer of 2010, I fell completely and madly in love with Chiapas, Mexico during my participation in HSU's appropriate technology program. My particular project,[[HSU Chiapas micro hydro feasibility study]], did not provide me with as much community interaction as I was hoping for. Therefore, I was extremely excited to be asked to return to Mexico as a grader the summer of 2011 and participate in more community based projects. However, due to violence in Northern Mexico, our appropriate technology program had to be moved to the Dominican Republic. I'll admit I was disappointed in the location change but only until I saw the beautiful white sand beaches surrounding Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic.

Revision as of 01:29, 21 August 2011

About Me

Me in the Yuca during a long day working with the alternative construction crew

My name is Meghan Heintz, I'm currently studying environmental resource engineering at Humboldt State University. I choose this career path after meeting dozens of environmental refugees while spending my junior year of high school in Quito, Ecuador. My long term goal is to work in part as a wastewater or bioremediation engineer and in part as a cultural and language liaison on environmental projects in Latin America.

Background

The summer of 2010, I fell completely and madly in love with Chiapas, Mexico during my participation in HSU's appropriate technology program. My particular project,HSU Chiapas micro hydro feasibility study, did not provide me with as much community interaction as I was hoping for. Therefore, I was extremely excited to be asked to return to Mexico as a grader the summer of 2011 and participate in more community based projects. However, due to violence in Northern Mexico, our appropriate technology program had to be moved to the Dominican Republic. I'll admit I was disappointed in the location change but only until I saw the beautiful white sand beaches surrounding Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic.

First impressions

The Dominican Republic is a stunning country, not just the landscape but also the people. I have never been so lucky to have lived among such beautiful and open people before. It must be the Caribbean air or something because as a whole this is friendliest country I've ever visited.

Selecting projects

This is a anecdote paraphrased from Lonny Grafman I personally found to be very accurate in terms of describing the failures of many NGOs, if you give a community a thousand shoes sure, the kids won't be barefoot until they grow out of those shoes but then you've put the community shoemaker out of business. Coming to a community and participating in a one way exchange of material goods is not nearly as beneficial as a learning experience between your group and the community. To have a successful project the needs and resources of the community must be assessed. This can't be done effectively with sufficient community engagement. This program accomplished this feat by starting out with small meetings with community leaders and a few members from the program and slowing increasing the numbers of members. This way the community is not overwhelmed with the number of outsiders.

Developing working relationships

Lessons learned

Future goals

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