Unsafe drinking water is the single largest public health problem in the world, said Bill McQueeney, BC '57. To help combat the issue, he created Rural Water Ventures, a project that brings clean water to rural villages in Nicaragua, in March of 2002.
During the upcoming Appalachia Volunteers meeting, McQueeney will give a presentation explaining Rural Water Ventures' mission and how students can contribute.
McQueeney said that he has not had much success recruiting Boston College students to help him so far. Although service trips are popular among students, schools such as Holy Cross have been much more eager to help with this particular project, McQueeney said.
"The choices students have for supporting causes are so vast," he said. "It's hard to crack into a culture like that."
McQueeney began his recruiting efforts in earnest last semester with Kristen Pfau, BC '09, a biology major, who e-mailed the biology department over the summer.
Two of those students were pulled in by the message. Sara Tian, A&S '11, and Ben Hall, A&S '12, volunteered to build a team to support Rural Water Ventures and spread the word of its work and mission. The team's goal is to raise funds for the organization's 2010 projects, McQueeney said.
Tian and Hall went on a summer Appalachia Volunteers trip to Exmore, Va., after agreeing to spearhead Rural Water Ventures' efforts on campus. They helped construct a home through the Habitat for Humanity program, which they said taught them the powerful impact of giving back.
"When we were building the house, it was a requirement that the homeowner spends a certain amount of time to build it themselves," Tian said. "It's the participation in building the house that makes it their own. There's a sense of ownership in that. It makes you more proud. It gets a community together to build something."
When Tian and Hall returned to campus last month, they discovered what a challenge it would be to generate support for Rural Water Venturs. They attended the first meeting the Student Programs Office held but have not yet been able to establish the project as a club. Tian said that she has been in touch with Elizabeth Barthelmes, co-leader of EcoPledge and A&S '11, about trying to form a working alliance between the two organizations.
"Right now we're having a little bit of difficulty getting the club off the ground," Hall said. "Our mission strays from that of EcoPledge because we're not preserving the environment. It's more health based."
Another major roadblock Tian and Hall have faced is the way in which students can, or cannot, participate in the actual service trip. Whereas programs such as Appalachia Volunteers and the Arrupe International Program combine fundraising and service trips, Rural Water Ventures pairs fundraising with awareness. Since the villagers in Nicaragua do the actual labor to construct the water systems, the students don't travel for the trip, so the project can seem more abstract.
"BC students are more hands-on, and they want to participate in building houses and going into Boston to volunteer in a soup kitchen," Tian said.
Still, Tian and Hall said that they're confident students will become more enthusiastic toward their cause. Possible fundraisers they mentioned include a recycling drive, bake sale, and skating event. The skating event would be similar to the ones hosted in the past by the Undergraduate Government of Boston College, Tian said.
"When BC kids hear about these things, they're more willing to participate," Hall said.
Currently, McQueeney is working on a project in the village of Varsovia. Varsovia has 350 residents in 70 residences. The villagers, who survive by subsistence farming, only have access to polluted water. When the project is completed, the village will have two springs that provide clean water for drinking and sanitation.
To ensure that 100 percent of donations go toward the projects, McQueeney funds travel expenses and other costs himself. Every $1,000 raised provides a Nicaraguan a safe drinking water system that could last for his or her entire lifetime.
"The need is too great to ignore," he said.
McQueen will speak on Sunday at 6 p.m. in the Eagles' Nest.
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