Reg Gustafson

Even at 71, Bearspaw resident Reg Gustafson has no problem with travelling to the far reaches of the world to offer a helping hand.

The local resident of 34 years recently spent a week in Burundi helping design a “fairly ambitious” interdenominational seminary and vocational school that is four storeys and could house up to 1,000 students someday.

Gustafson has previously done similar work in Alaska, Mexico and Jordan.

“It’s really quite rewarding,” Gustafson said of his endeavours. “I found the people in Burundi knew what they wanted, they just don’t have any resources.”

According to statistics gathered by Oxford University, and supported by the United Nations, Burundi is among the 10 poorest countries in the world. A major factor in the East African nation’s struggles is a 12-year ethnic-based civil war that finally ended in 2005.

The country’s elected government granted the roughly 25 acres of land for the school to International Christian Ministries (ICM). ICM then went to Engineering Ministries International Canada (eMIC) to develop plans for the building. Gustafson was working in Alaska when a peer told him about eMIC, a non-profit Christian development organization made up of volunteer architects, engineers, surveyors, design professionals and building technicians that aims to help children and families around the world work their way out of poverty.

Bearspaw resident Reg Gustafson, left, goes over design plans for a school that he and nine peers designed during a week-long stay in Burundi. Photo submitted

“I made a phone call . . . six weeks later I was on my way to Burundi,” Gustafson recalled.

While on the ground at the building site, which is on the outskirts Burundi’s capital city Bujumbura, Gustafson worked mostly on the site’s electrical requirements. He determined the building’s power demands, sized generators and met with local utility officials to determine upgrade costs.

“All the power poles and everything are there,” Gustafson explained, “but during the war individuals took the copper down and sold it. So, there’s no power out there.”

Gustafson said the project also gave new meaning to the term “manual labour.”

“There’s no equipment. All the cement that was mixed for this job while we were there was mixed by hand,” he said.

“When they went to pour the foundation of this building, they hired 300 people and they worked 30 hours to get this thing poured all at once . . . all they each had was a shovel and a hoe.”

On a personal note, Gustafson said the trip was quite enjoyable overall, despite the 36-hour trek to get to and from Burundi and the constant presence of guards armed with assault rifles. Gustafson said he never feared for his safety, even while touring through Bujumbura. At the end of their week in Burundi, eMIC’s 10-man team were able to present a master plan and the team will continue to work on the finer points of the project at home.

“I think things are going to work out,” Gustfason said, adding for more visit emicanada.org.

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