Impact Stories
Making change happen across Australia and Asia Pacific.
Remote field visits, tuk-tuk commutes, and fish amok: a year in the life of an Australian volunteer
Water, risk, and sustainability engineer Nicole Locke had always wanted to work overseas but there had never been a good time to do it. She graduated into a difficult job market and was lucky enough to find a position with Water Corporation in Perth. Fast forward a few years to 2019 and Nicole was considering her next move.
“I was talking to a mentor and she said, you’ve always thought about going overseas and volunteering,” Nicole said. “’Why don’t you just do it?’ I thought—well, why not?”
Remote field visits, tuk-tuk commutes, and fish amok: a year in the life of an Australian volunteer
Water, risk, and sustainability engineer Nicole Locke had always wanted to work overseas but there had never been a good time to do it. She graduated into a difficult job market and was lucky enough to find a position with Water Corporation in Perth. Fast forward a few years to 2019 and Nicole was considering her next move.
“I was talking to a mentor and she said, you’ve always thought about going overseas and volunteering,” Nicole said. “’Why don’t you just do it?’ I thought—well, why not?”
Building a reliable water supply for the residents of Darlau, Timor-Leste
In Darlau, a village in Timor-Leste, collecting water was until recently a slow and physically demanding task. Every day, residents would trek to the only springwater supply and carry buckets back up a steep hill. This job was generally done by women and children – a round trip that could take up to 2 hours, and in extreme heat during summer.
Bringing Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander perspectives into STEM
Chelsea Hayward, supported by the 2017 MECCA M-Power scholarship, travelled to the Torres Strait Islands with a group of volunteers to pilot some new School Outreach resources. “Streaks of yellow and orange fill the sky as the sun sinks below the ocean horizon –...
How do we stop turning our environment into an open sewer?
Stephanie Hamel, WASH Program Manager in Vanuatu with EWB Australia and EWB New Zealand, shares her reflections on sanitation and the global environmental crisis. "For the past three years, I have worked as a Water Sensitive Urban Design/Drainage Officer in an...
School students remind me of ‘the why’
“For me, there was always a motivation to do something meaningful. I just didn’t quite understand what that looked like or how it was to be done." “Streaks of yellow and orange fill the sky as the sun sinks below the ocean horizon – another beautiful sunset to...
Exploring ways to encourage Pro-Bono
How can we encourage Pro Bono services in our industries? This was the question raised at the recent think tank event organised by Engineers without Borders (EWB) and Engineers Australia (EA).During this event participants were given the opportunity to engaged with a...
Kinship and Culture – training promotes understanding
It has been 27 years since the famous handshake between the Minister for Indigenous Affairs and his Opposition counterpart, symbolising a great beginning to the statutory Aboriginal reconciliation process. Yet constitutional and legislative deficiencies in the...
International Day for Volunteer Managers – and why they matter!
This year's International Volunteer Managers Day theme is "Be the Voice". As EWB Volunteer Outreach Lead, Anna Cain wants to voice a big thanks to all the volunteer managers who are enabling EWB to connect, educate and empower people through humanitarian...
Kickstart with Mecca M-Power Boot Camp
In early August, Chelsea Hayward, the recent winner of the MECCA M-Power grant supported by a partnership between Engineers Without Borders Australia and MECCA Brands, participated in a bootcamp for young female social entrepreneurs. The bootcamp formed part of the...
Understanding the Indigenous legacy enriches Engineering
How far back to we need to go to understand the engineering solutions that have been applied to shape our landscape? In Australia examples like the Brewarrina Fish Traps in South Western New South Wales, recognised by Engineers Australia as a heritage location...