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Rural Ghana to benefit from expertise of BC Hydro engineer

Rob Klovance
bchydro.com

About the time we're wolfing down watermelon at the beach or grilling burgers on the back porch, Pam Rogalski will be introducing herself to local food in Ghana, doing her best on a short stop in a market town to gather what she can en route to what will be her temporary home in rural Africa.

"The people I've talked to who are there say, 'If it doesn't grow in the ground here, they won't have it in the market here," says the BC Hydro procurement engineer, with a chuckle. "So there will be cassava and beans, and I'll be arriving at the end of mango season. Whatever's growing in the ground is going to be what there is."

Rogalski couldn't be more excited about the trip – she's been looking forward to an assignment like this since first joining Engineers Without Borders (EWB) as a UBC student in 2001. Through a combination of banked vacation time and unpaid leave, she's embarking on a five-month EWB volunteer placement to support the planning and delivery process of public services – such as clean water wells and schools – for rural Ghanian communities

She has yet to learn the specifics of the project, but she's been told it has "something to do with an Access database." It's a standing joke at EWB that member engineers' and students' wizardry with spreadsheets isn't sexy, but works. And what Rogalski does know is that the difference between a properly-drilled well and one that relies on rainwater from storms – water that can be riddled with disease – is often the difference between life and death for many rural Ghanaians.

"I'm in a position where I have skills that can really make a difference to families, the difference between a child, or children, not dying of cholera," she says, almost in disbelief at the opportunity. "That's huge. It's about people having the opportunity to drill a well for themselves or not having that opportunity."

She has an enthusiastic thumbs-up from her husband, who will visit her in Ghana for a few weeks during the assignment. And she has the support of her manager, who's part of a work culture that encourages – through liberal vacation and leave policies – such adventures.

"I don't have to quit my job to go – I can take a leave without pay, and that's incredible," she says. "And I think about all the people at Engineers Without Borders who have done fundraising, at BC Hydro and everywhere else around the world [for EWB fellowships], and who are creating good training programs so we can be effective overseas. I really feel I have this huge team of people behind me."

Rogalski is clearly a huge fan of EWB, and she's excited about the pending launch of the first BC Hydro chapter of EWB. She stresses how important it is to be involved with an international development organization she says is all about "doing development work and providing opportunities, effectively."

Rogalski stresses how EWB's help with effective processes focuses on equipping Ghanaians to train fellow Ghanaians to do work effectively and cost-efficiently.

"The intention is really to have the Ghanaians driving the boat, and to have other people applying funding," she said. "When you hear of someone who didn't go to school or didn't have water, the problem isn't usually 'Oh, I was too lazy to go to school'. The thing you hear over and over again is that there wasn't the opportunity to do it.

"So it's Ghanaians doing whatever needs to be done to create the opportunity – that's really the bottom line. And training people to help train people do that work effectively."

The word "effectively" comes up constantly in conversation with Rogalski, whose job with BC Hydro is about helping adhere to the crown corporation's "triple bottom line" values while ensuring maximum ratepayer value for capital projects.

"Each day we are working hard and creating new strategies to meet our projects' rapid critical path timelines, while keeping our procurement in accordance with internal and public policies," she said.

So what are we to expect from Rogalski's periodic reports back from Ghana during her five-month stay there? Spreadsheet tips and tricks?

"I know I always like to hear about people working overseas, working in those conditions," she says. "And of course, I'll have to write about the joy of the trip."

While northern, tribal Ghana may not have the same creature comforts as home, Rogalski feels equipped – through her varied travel experiences – to handle it and enjoy it.

"It is always hard to know what is going to shock us," she says. "Some people have complete meltdowns at the grocery store when they come back here... But certainly I have been where there has been war, famine, plague and pestilence at different times.

"I think being in those places has personified with what was otherwise a big, blank challenging problem to me personally. It's not acceptable for me that there are people in places like Ghana who don't have opportunities. I feel so lucky that I'm trained in a career and I have experience at somewhere like BC Hydro where I can actually go and be of some use."