Medical Equipment Repair
Laina Rowe, an engineering major specializing in the mechanical concentration, went on her first overseas mission trip when she was just 12, spending two weeks in the Amazon jungle of Venezuela. Since then has served on trips across the U.S. as well as in Poland and Ecuador.
This past summer, Rowe, a native of Nashotah, Wis., spent 12 weeks in Honduras working with International Aid (based in Spring Lake, Mich.). Her task there was to establish a medical equipment repair training program (MET).
"In developing countries the donated equipment many hospitals depend on often comes without instruction manuals or replacement parts," says Rowe. "Consequently, equipment that could be saving lives collects dust, sometime due to something as simple as a blown fuse."
At the end of the summer Rowe had used her considerable skills in a lot of unexpected ways.
"Missions work is an incredibly creative field," she says. "You’re trying to solve problems with resources you’re not used to."
Despite the challeneges (or maybe because of the challenges!) the Honduras position was a perfect fit for Rowe, who had been looking for a summer job where she could use her Spanish, her engineering skills and her passion for missions.
"Originally it was presented as being an assistantship," says Rowe, who received a Summer Service grant from Calvin for her work. "But as things evolved, I accepted the position of coordinator. By the time I got down there, it was really just a step of faith."
Rowe spent the first eight weeks of the summer establishing the new program. She met with possible instructors, surveyed local hospitals, set up the classroom site and worked to adapt the MET course (which was in English) to the language and specific need of Honduras.
Initially Calvin engineering Professor Bryan Vanden Bosch spent two weeks in Honduras with Rowe helping organize the curriculum.
Top technicians were recruited from hospitals across Honduras for an instruction class. Because of the language barrier, Honduran teacher Walter Martinez handled most of the technical instruction, but Rowe spent at least an hour every day teaching English. She also tutored students, took care of administrative duties and even used some of her free time to repaint a daycare center.
"It was pretty intimidating at first," she says, "but God really provided people down there that helped me through it."
And although Rowe is back at Calvin, Martinez and a group of Cuban med-techs are keeping MET Honduras going. Also International Aid hopes to eventually establish the course as a permanent school.