Students for Social Change

Week by week, and drop to drop, twelve students from the Art Center College of Design are working towards social change. In partnership with Un Techo Para Mi Pais, the students develop new tools for using, storing, and transporting water to improve the quality of life of impoverished families living in campamentos/slums in Chile.  Last week we witnessed Jesse and Narbeh's develop a low-cost but real world potential warm shower for people living without running water or consistent electricity.  This week, join Stephanie and follow step by step how she designs a community laundry facility that aims to offer convenience and fill the emotional needs of people living in campamentos.  

Week by week, and drop to drop, twelve students from the Art Center College of Design are working towards social change.  In partnership with Un Techo Para Mi Pais, the students develop new tools for using, storing, and transporting water to improve the quality of life of impoverished families living in campamentos/slums in Chile.  Last week we witnessed how Nubia, Stella and Diane created a low-cost pressurized water system, adding convenience and safety to the families' daily tasks. This week, join Jesse and Narbeh and follow step by step how they develop a low-cost but real world potential warm shower for people living without running water or consistent electricity.

Week by week, and drop to drop, twelve students from the Art Center College of Design are working towards social change.  In partnership with Un Techo Para Mi Pais, the students develop new tools for using, storing, and transporting water to improve the quality of life of impoverished families living in campamentos/slums, Chile. Last week, we witnessed how Erica and Elizabeth created health and sanitation solutions, in order to make the families' dream of having Potable Drinking Water a reality.   This week, join Nubia, Stella and Diane and follow step by step how they find ways to create a low-cost Pressurized Water System for  the families in campamentos.

Week by week, and drop to drop, twelve students from the Art Center College of Design are working towards social change.  In partnership with Un Techo Para Mi Pais, the students develop new tools for using, storing, and transporting water to improve the quality of life of impoverished families living in campamentos/slums, Chile. Last Week, we were transported to A Day in the Life of the poorest families in campamentos.  We learned the important role water plays and we also saw how families are being emotionally and physically affected by the lack of basic needs.  This week, follow, step by step, the exciting work of the students to find ways to make the families' dream of having Potable Drinking Water... a reality!

Week by week & drop to drop, twelve students from the Art Center College of Design are working towards social change.  In a partnership with Un Techo para mi Pais, the students will develop new tools for using, storing and transporting WATER, to improve the quality of life of poor families.  This week, continue learning what it is like to be in A Day in the Life of the local people from campamentos, without running potable water.

"I am tired... it's laundry day and I just got started," these are the words of  Mireya, a local  habitant of campamentos.  We met Mireya last week. She's exhausted of using so many containers to transport water.  Her daily tasks are doubled by the lack of running water just like many others in campamentos.

All the bags are packed! Twelve students of the Art Center College of Design are ready to become drops of change as they are on their way to Santiago, Chile, where they will spend twelve days living amongst the poorest families of the campamentos/slums.  The excitement and incertitude are overwhelming.  All they need to do now is focus on one question:  How can they work with people living in Chile's campamentos to develop new tools for using, storing and transporting WATER in order to help improve the quality of life?  The answer to that question will be revealed next, week by week, step by step & drop to drop.

Last week I had the pleasure of attending the Transitioning Technologies from Labs to LDCs Workshop at Rice University's Institute for Global Health Technologies.

The workshop was an excellent opportunity to learn about some great new health point-of-care diagnostic technologies, point-of-use water purification technologies, and also many of the regulatory hurdles that must be overcome to get products to market, as well as the many groups whose purpose is to support those working toward this goal. Besides the excellent presentations, discussions, and networking opportunities, there was a very impressive poster session highlighting the research and technologies that have been developed by the undergraduate students in Rice University's Beyond Traditional Borders initiative.

Follow, step by step & drop to drop, the path to a LIFE-CHANGING STORY. Twelve art design students, from the Art Center College of Design's Designmatters, travel to Santiago, CHILE, to help impoverished communities break the cycle of poverty. The students will develop new tools and ways to help slum-dwellers store, transport, efficiently use, conserve and re-use WATER, as they experience and learn from the day by day of the poorest local families. Their major CHALLENGE is to create extremely low-cost but real world potential implementation products.

"One of the issues faced by many Guatemalans is having access to pure and clean water. According to the Guatemala Ministry of Health, 98 percent of the country’s water sources are contaminated with water-borne diseases such as typhoid fever, hepatitis A, cholera, giardia, and amebiasis,” states the thesis of Aguapura, a water purifier developed by students from three different universities including CalTech, the Art Center College of Design, and Landivar University, which is based in Guatemala.

Engineering schools around the world are focusing more and more on bottom of the pyramid designs that will improve quality of life. And at courses like CalTech’s “Design for Development course” (taught by Professor Ken Pickar) high-design is fused with rigorous engineering and an experiential component. CalTech students from Pickar's class spend time in the field understanding the needs of Guatemalan's and bringing their insights to their design.