UNF alumna Taylor Broussard is taking humanitarian matters into her own hands after creating her own non-profit organization to help remote areas gain access to clean water.

Broussard, who majored in civil engineering, created the organization just months after she lead an all-female team of UNF engineers on a trip to Guatemala. Her teammates were UNF students Piper Austin, Rosemarie Pinto, Sammy Kovalenko and Amber slack.

The team visited Guatemala twice: once in October 2017 and again in March 2018. The purpose of their first trip was to both conduct research and discover what the community needed.

“We met the community and listened to some of their needs and tried to figure out exactly what they needed for a new water system,” Broussard said. “Then we came back and we did all the design.”

These designs included collection tanks and pipes that bring water from the tanks themselves to individual households. The team also conducted environmental testing on the water quality in order to verify they were providing clean water.

The system took three months to build, ultimately spanning from December 2017 to February 2018. Once the system was completed in February, the team returned to Guatemala for an engineering inspection.

“We went and made sure all the pressures in the taps were satisfactory and just kinda checked it out and made sure everything was running smoothly,” Broussard explained.  

Their plan wasn’t the only thing running in Guatemala; because of their efforts, around a thousand residents in the highlands of Guatemala were able to receive running water.

After Broussard graduated in Spring 2018, she created her own non-profit organization, The Honor Journey. She realized her dream was to help remote communities gain access to running water and when she didn’t find any open positions, she created her own.

‘I really wanted to do this work in the south pacific and remote island communities,” she said. “Because a lot of people have no idea that they don’t have water.”

Broussard made connections with the owner of a pirate ship, who visits the Fiji Islands and performs similar humanitarian work. She now works with the owner to aid in establishing and turning the company into a 501c3 organization, which would allow for would-be donors to make a non-profit donation.

The goals of the company are to provide access to clean drinking water, aid in sustaining ocean and marine ecology, provide support for education and raise awareness of climate change. For more information visit their website or click here to donate.

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