Thursday, July 21, 2005
Engineers Without Borders
I spoke with Sam Burd (President, Medical and Biotech Developments, Inc.), who has been a member of the San Francisco chapter of Engineers Without Borders for 10 months. The chapter has been around for 2 years and the entire organization for 5 years. Sam recommends staying very focused and to commit to lifetime attachment to each project, cradle to grave, or projects will flounder. Keep them small, especially at the beginning, and don't worry too much about money. He said their most expensive project so far in Africa was about $30,000. Don't worry about growing the organization, just stay focused on the project. For example, get vaccines into one village, somewhere. Sam suggested that tsunami-affected areas will be good candidates for our efforts. Sam has offered to be a consulting resource for us.
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Bego-
ReplyDeleteWow, very cool!! I think Sam's advice as far as being successful with every (small) project is very important. It is excellent that he is willing to help us in our cause. Thanks Sam!!
I guess my next question is "Are there countries where we could distribute vaccines such as the typhoid carbohydrate vaccine without FDA approval?" I bet Lynn Geldof would have some input here. It would be an important test case to try on a smaller scale... Lacey had alluded to the FDA approval in our last conference call. We should find out, especially in Tsunami-affected areas.
ELMO