El Aguacate Pedestrian Bridge

Over a year ago, Marquette University Engineers Without Borders visited the small, rural community of El Aguacate in Joyabaj, Guatemala to assess for a potential pedestrian bridge that, according to the mayor, was of high priority. After talking with community members and teachers, two things became clear: First, the community valued education. Second, the community did not have a safe and reliable way to get to school. A high river creates such a dangerous obstacle between the school that more than sixty children cannot attend school year round without risking their lives. El Aguacate Pedestrian Bridge will not only provide the children with the reliable access to school that they lack, but will also provide safer access to healthcare, markets, and churches for the community members of El Aguacate.

The students at Marquette University have worked diligently to design the pedestrian bridge since visting El Aguacate. With the oversight of professional mentors, the students gained real engineering design experience while they were still in school. Now, they are headed back to El Aguacate to help the community bring the bridge to life. However, we need your help to do so.

Marquette University Engineers Without Borders is a tax-deductible, non-profit organization that relies on donations to make these projects a reality. After an analysis of funds, we still need approximately $5,000 to completely fund the material cost of the bridge. That's right - the materials, the actual brick and mortar of the bridge. We will take these donations, and apply them directly to the bridge cost, and not for things like plane tickets, or food and lodging in Guatemala. Please consider making a donation today in order to help us achieve our vision of a world where every community has the infrastructure to meet basic human needs.

For more information and to view information on other projects, visit our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/EWBmarquette/