EWB is full of incredible women who are INSPIRING CHANGE in their spheres of influence. Today we celebrate a few of our change makers.
Yara Sath
Yara is a Cambodian woman who has dedicated her life to assisting urban poor communities in Cambodia. In she founded Community Empowerment Development Team (CEDT), an EWB partner organisation that provides communities with the technical support they need to secure land tenure and realise their housing rights.
During her university years Yara volunteered for a number of organisations who worked with urban poor communities under threat of eviction from their land. She found that the majority of these communities did not have a cohesive message or the appropriate documentation to support their cause. Yara realised that working without such things was not very effective and established CEDT to provide mapping, training and documentation so that communities could work towards securing land tenure and housing rights themselves.
Yara loves her work but also finds it quite taxing, to reduce her levels of tension she exercises. Her favourite form of exercise is dancing, which she often does with her friends.
Sheena Ong
Sheena is a long-time EWB Member who is fascinated by the idea of engineers as humanitarians, believing that engineers have the power to address disadvantage and create social change.
Sheena graduated from the University of WA in and decided to make a documentary on humanitarian engineering. She crowdfunded the project, researched it, interviewed people and taught herself to use a camera, editing tools and other production equipment. Her journey has inspired others to follow their passions, ask questions, cross disciplines and reconsider how engineers serve humanity.
Sheena works for a renewable energy firm in Perth and enjoys writing, reading, puzzles and Bollywood dancing. She gratefully acknowledges everyone who supported her huge learning curve throughout the project.
Sheena&#;s documentary will be screening in Perth and Sydney mid-. Follow its progress here.
Caroline Crosthwaite
Executive Dean for the Facility of Engineering and IT (acting), University of Queensland.
Caroline is passionate about education. She believes it is the key to the future for individuals, societies and the global community.
She has been involved in EWB since when the University of Queensland became a founding partner for the EWB Challenge. The EWB Challenge is a design program for first year university students where they have the opportunity to develop innovative solutions to real development challenges.
Outside of the office Caroline likes to play cards, walk her dog, read and spend time in her garden.
Karina Ojeda
Karina is a Latín American woman, originally from Barranquilla, Colombia, who is passionate about social development and entrepreneuship. She came to Australia to pursue her professional dream of applying her skills as a project manager to contribute with social change.
Karina is a full time volunteer at EWB. She coordinated EWB&#;s Summer Internship Program and was an integral part of organising the Link Festival. She is now working with EWB&#;s CEO to develop and pilot the EWB Incubator for Social Entreprenuership.
She loves to share her Colombian culture, teach spanish and is establishing a social enterprise to sell traditional Colombian accessories.
Happy Women&#;s Day to all the incredible women around the world who are INSPIRING CHANGE!