Canadian Bernie Roseke Volunteers in South Sudan

No. 131
July 7, 2009

Bernie (left) testing the local water.


Bernie’s project office in Malakal.


Design for prospective orphanage which would house 40 orphans.


Design for prospective church.


Overall site plan for the project on a 12-acre site in South Sudan.


Bernie testing the soil.


Bernie briefing with local leaders.


Bridge Engineer Bernie Roseke with the local children of Malakal.

AMEC Bridge Engineer Bernie Roseke and his wife Heather recently spent a week in South Sudan volunteering with a team of North American engineers and architects on a project to build an orphanage, school, medical clinic and church in Malakal.
 
Malakal is a community located on the White Nile River and on the southern edge of the Sahara Desert in Africa.  It has about 300,000 people, most of which are living in small mud huts with straw roofs, without water and without electricity.
 
“I volunteered on this project because I felt my engineering expertise was valuable in helping others,” said Bernie, who is an Infrastructure project manager for bridge construction and repair contracts, working out of AMEC’s Lethbridge, Alta. office.  “The need for facilities, schools, clinics, orphanages, etc. in South Sudan is immense because of the 22-year-long civil war.  Since the war ended in 2005, there has been a huge influx of aid organizations and UNICEF was visibly present in many areas.”
 
Bernie was responsible for the civil engineering of the water, wastewater and drainage facilities on the 12-acre site of the project.  The project is being undertaken by Engineering Ministries International Canada (eMiC) for Hope for Children in South Sudan.
 
During their time in South Sudan, the seven-member eMiC team surveyed the property and developed concepts for a master plan, complete with a budget and schedule.  Bernie and the team of two architects and four engineers are now working on more detailed elements of their design, and are to provide Hope for Children with a final report within the next four months.
 
For his part, Bernie helped to design a water supply facility that can be hooked up with the city’s water supply.  Currently the majority of residents drink water directly from the White Nile River, which is as dirty as it looks, said Bernie, who tested the river’s water.
 
The existing water treatment facility is pretty close to western standards, but is in poor repair, said Bernie.  “Some of the storage tanks have been leaking for several years,” he said.  “We tested the city water and it turned out to be okay, but we included some simple water treatment processes on site.”
 
One of the biggest challenges for dealing with wastewater was poor drainage.  “The soil percolation was pretty close to zero, so septic fields behind the facilities required special designs, using material brought in from the outside,” said Bernie.
 
Hope for Children has already started fundraising in the United States and Canada to fund the project, and eMiC is lining up volunteer construction managers willing to go oversees for the duration of the construction project.   Bernie expects construction to begin within a year. 
 
When the project is completed, the Hope for Children site will have one of the biggest schools in Malakal.  The new government of South Sudan is not ready to provide schools, said Bernie.   Schools are currently provided primarily by the Catholic Church and other church groups.