HABITAT FOR HUMANITY

Engineering students raise Euro 55,000 and help build Ethiopian village
Fourteen GMIT students and two GMIT lecturers from the Dept of Building & Civil Engineering and the Hotel School recently returned from Ethiopia where they spent two weeks of the summer building homes for local communities in Bahir Dar, as volunteers on the Habitat for Humanity Ethiopia Global Village 2010 project.

The GMIT group raised Euro 55,000 from fund-raising activities between November (2009) and June (2010) when they travelled to the African country to work and live within the community for the duration of the project.

The connection with Habitat happened through two GMIT lecturers in the Building & Civil Engineering department, Niamh Ward and Rachel Gargan. They felt it would be an invaluable experience on so many levels for students and would stand to them in the future.

"It broadens the mind and puts many things into perspective." says Niamh Ward. "The students see first hand how the money they raised is spent. They work and live in the community for the fourteen days so it is a completely local experience."