Senior Jean Foster knew she wanted to get her hands dirty this summer. The idea of spending the summer abroad or working to progress her career seemed mundane to her.
What did excite Foster, however, was the chance to help victims of the tsunami that killed more than 150,000 individuals and devastated entire countries in December of 2004.
Foster, a civil and environmental engineer and Chinese double major, and a group of other Pratt School of Engineering students, affiliated with the group Engineers Without Borders–USA, worked in Sumatra, Banda Aceh and other villages in Indonesia for three weeks in August.
“There is so much to be done; it is going to take forever,” she said of the area.
Engineers Without Borders is a non-governmental organization, mostly composed of engineers who work with disadvantaged communities to restore or implement measures for economic and structural support.
Foster and her crew spent the better part of their summers planning the trip. Their main goal was to offset damage caused by both the tsunami and an earthquake that followed in Sumatra March 2005.
The group spent much of its time studying tools that were cheaply available in Indonesia that could help in the effort to restructure villages.
“The people’s entire livelihood depends on fish and shrimp hatcheries,” Foster said of the villagers in Banda Aceh, Indonesia, where a thirty-foot wave reportedly washed away the village, its fish hatcheries and everything else in its path. This disaster displaced an estimated 600,000 residents of Indonesia.
A subsequent earthquake in March 2005 rocked the Sumatran fault, worsening already unstable conditions.
Foster’s typical day started off by waking on a tarp or wooden bench at the crack of sunrise.
“I felt guilty if I woke up after six a.m. because the villagers were always ready,” she said.
“They basically had all the work and dedication they needed,” Foster said of the eager villagers. “They just needed resources and supplies to control the effects of flooding and protect their livelihoods.”
Foster said she helped the villagers evaluate the different options available. For instance, in one village residents had proposed to build 500 “rock boxes” to prevent erosion.
Foster’s crew, however, estimated that plan to cost about $50,000—too much for a community where children are malnourished and resources are scarce.
The Duke students will follow up with the communities using the research they compiled during their trip.
In all, Foster and the chapter spent only about $25,000, which was funded by a grant.
Even though Foster and crew helped improve hundreds of lives over the course of the program, it was the relationships she formed with the villagers that touched her life the most.
“Even more precious than the the chance to implement skills in the field were the stories I heard,” Foster said. “It was truly inspiring to hear the tales of these people behind the optimistic smiles on their faces.”
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