WKU News

Members, alumni and friends of the WKU Habitat for Humanity Campus Chapter will be working in Tecpan, Guatemala, June 8-16 as part of the Global Village program through Habitat for Humanity International.

Global Village trips are short-term service trips with Habitat for Humanity that give volunteers the chance to experience another culture and help communities that need safe, affordable housing.

Participants in the trip include Bryan Reaka, chapter advisor and faculty member in WKU’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences; WKU students Allison Hohenstein of Radcliff and Savanah Russ of Jacksonville, Florida; WKU alumni Hannah King of Brandenburg, Chelsea Smith of Somerset, Danielle Marsh of Portland, Oregon, Christina Billings of Louisville and Austin Loney of Madisonville; and chapter friends Jennifer Stroot of O’Fallon, Illinois, and Emily Etter and Lily Reaka, both of Freeburg, Illinois.

The trip will consist of building new construction out of concrete masonry as well as building masonry cook stoves for families in the Tecpan area. Most homes within Guatemala’s rural communities have open fires for cooking inside the homes. The building of masonry cook stoves for indigenous Mayan families helps to reduce the carbon footprint of wood fuel by over 50 percent, reduces the amount of smoke that children breathe thus lowering health issues such as emphysema and keeps smoke from the eyes of the women who do the cooking in the families reducing the cases of cataracts within the population.

The homes are made of concrete units that are assembled with the assistance of skilled local master masons and volunteer laborers. The goal for the week include completion of two of the stoves in different residences every day, as well as the substantial completion of the individual home that the WKU group will be working on.

Donations in support of this trip or local efforts can be made to:

WKU Habitat for Humanity
C/O Bryan Reaka
School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
Western Kentucky University
1906 College Heights Blvd #51066
Bowling Green, KY 42101-1066

More: Follow WKU Habitat on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram

Contact: Bryan Reaka, (618) 610-8343 or bryan.reaka@wku.edu