I just got back from an Engineers without Borders meeting. A month ago, my friend Monatrice and I completed the first round of paperwork for a new international project in Haiti! We gave a presentation tonight about the project, which consists of some students traveling to factory in northern Haiti that produces nutrient-rich peanut butter (called Medika Mamba). This peanut butter is distributed to malnourished children, as well as people suffering from TB and HIV/AIDS. The peanut butter has a high success rate of curing the malnutrition, and costs much less than the typical treatment: hospitalization.
The factory is in need of a maintenance schedule to reduce repair costs. Last year, they spent $5,000 in repair costs, as well as an additional ~$30,000 to repair things after a fire severely damaged the building. They think the fire came from an improperly hooked-up propane refrigerator. Yuck.
Monatrice and I were elected as the Medika Mamba project leads, which means that we're in charge! Scary, eh? Actually, I think it will work out very well. We seem to work well together. I'm a little lacking in remembering to do things, and Monatrice is on top of that sort of stuff.
Meds and Food for Kids, the non-profit organization that produces Medika Mamba and treats ~2,000 kids a year for malnutrition, is a quality organization. It was only founded in 2004 but last year it received a $200,000 grant from the World Bank to expand its program. Pretty cool!



Ahh, also I went to an underclassmen formal last Saturday! A lot of people from my bible study were going, so Carissa and I decided to tag along. Aren't we lovely?