This is me, Dan.

This year I have decided to embark on a journey to discover development in Africa through an organization called Engineers without Borders. It was a tough decision to leave family and friends for a year, since they mean the world to me. My girlfriend Luisa and my family have provided so much love and support and I thank them for that. It was also difficult to leave a life in Toronto, working at CH2M Hill Canada on innovating water and wastewater engineering projects, playing on a basketball team with friends and family, and playing in two awesome bands This Crooked Mile and Sunparlour Players.

My passion for international development started at a young age. Growing up in Scarborough, I was immersed in cultural of diversity.  Different cultures, backgrounds, foods, languages - I was fascinated by them all. In high school, I could walk down the hallway and feel like I was traveling abroad.  I did not follow the path of many high school students who stuck within a clique. Branching out, I was involved with many different groups. Even though I was not proficient with computers, I was a member of the computer club where I supposedly helped students with computers and also got to play mahjong with other members, a majority of which were from Hong Kong and more talented than me at both. Being tall, I played on the basketball team and got to practice my poor beatboxing on the bus ride to away games.  Throughout my life, my passion for cultural diversity has never waned and my desire to learn more about this world grows stronger every day.

During the first two years of university, I felt trapped within the structured curriculum of a standard engineering degree. Wanting to extend beyond my sheltered environment, I had a burning need to travel the world and discover how my passion for engineering and problem solving could be combined with my passion for people and diversity. While walking with my friend Steve one day, we came across a posting for a month-long overseas learning experience through an organization called Global Youth Network. This struck a chord and I didn’t waste any time in deciding to pursue the opportunity.
Finally the day arrived and I headed to Bolivia, the economically poorest country in South America. My ten-person team had been meeting on a weekly basis for five months to learn about ourselves, each other, our host country, and international issues.  We were ready to take the plunge and step outside our Canadian bubble. During one of the workshops at the pre-departure retreat, the organization’s director made a simple statement that had a significant impact on me. “Being born into a lifestyle that had easy access to food, shelter, and water was a result of dumb luck”. I asked myself the question, why was I part of this minority who had a standard of living that permitted additional privileges? It was at this moment I experienced a revelation that with privilege comes responsibility. I felt the need to learn and strive towards a world where everyone has the same opportunity to reach their full potential.

Following my first experience with Global Youth Network in Bolivia, I led two trips to Nicaragua and Mexico through the same organization. Arriving back to McMaster University for my third year I discovered that this incredible organization called Engineers Without Borders (EWB) was starting to take shape. My mind raced with excitement.  Was it possible to mix my love for engineering with my passion for the world and international development? Joining the newly formed EWB chapter in the fall of 2001, I never looked back. I became the president of the chapter for two years between 2001 and 2003, and in the following years led a team of volunteers who started the high school outreach and EWB curriculum programs. After graduating I pursued a Masters of Applied Science working on a rural water supply study in the Nilgiris District of Tamil Nadu, India, with an organization called the Rural Development Organization.

After university, I started work at CH2M Hill Canada Limited, an exciting engineering consulting firm working on projects all over the world. For the past three years, I worked in the Toronto office, mostly on the design of a wastewater treatment expansion in the City of Barrie. While at CH2M Hill I help to start an Engineers without Borders workplace campaign and also worked with a team of 10 individuals to form the Toronto Professional chapter of EWB.