Professionals Without Borders (PWOB) is a group who engages in and leads sustainable service projects to help people in need. We connect the minds of students to what matters. Working on service projects that include providing safe drinking water and good sanitation, students and staff work hand-in-hand with the local residents to improve the lives of many people both locally and globally.
What is unique about PWOB - Seattle University, is that it addresses elementary needs at the most basic level. The measurable impact of this program and these projects is already staggering. For example, a hospital has a proper potable system, communities in several countries have improved water systems, and a rebuilt washed out roadway now supports travel to and from a rural medical clinic. Domestically, PWOB has provided emergency response to flooded areas in Lewis County, restored bathrooms for a homeless shelter in Tacoma and made numerous household repairs at L’Arche, a community devoted to providing housing on Capitol Hill for people with disabilities.
We have a number of projects we’ve completed thru 2011-2016, including:
- Quadrupling the water available and improving water pressure for a hospital in rural Zambia. The hospital routinely ran out of water in the afternoon. The increase in available water allowed the hospital to open a natal unit and operating theater.
- Completion of a medical clinic and nurses quarters in the remote community of Chipembele, Zambia, serving 14,000 people
- Installation of borehole pump, classroom renovation, installation of electrical pole and new fence at Chikuni Girls School in Zambia.
- Installation of a rainwater catchment system at Liberty Children’s Home in Ladyville, Belize.
- Renovation of volunteer facilities at Liberty Children’s Home in Belize.
- Construction of a retaining wall at Nuestros Pequenos Hermano’s children’s home in Nicaragua.
Projects being planned:
- Acoustic panel installation in the dining hall at Liberty Children’s Home, Ladyville, Belize
- Gray water system at NPH, Nicaragua
- Collecting hospital equipment and supplies for donation and various infrastructure improvements in Zambia.