Jean Zipagan Bio

Charlie Kimpel '12 (left),  Jean Zipagan '13 (right)


Hi! My name is Jean Zipagan. I'm a junior mechanical engineering student here at Messiah College. I've been involved with the Mobility Tricycle project within the Disability Resources Group in The Collaboratory since my freshman year. In the summer of 2010, a site team to Burkina Faso discovered excessive wear on the axles of the electric tricycles there due to various design factors. Since then, the Mobility team has been working on developing a fix to that problem. During this J-term trip, a fellow team member Charlie Kimpel and I will be implementing a temporary axle solution for the electric tricycles currently in use in Mahadaga in order to ensure our users will be able to continue to use their tricycles. Having lived in The Philippines and Cambodia, I've traveled quite a bit but have never had the opportunity to travel to Africa till now. I'm excited to finally meet and live among the people we're serving.

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Lauren Phillippy Bio

About me:
I am a Junior at Messiah College, studying Middle Level Education. My concentrations are Math and Social Studies. While in Burkina Faso, I will have the opportunity to teach in the orphanage, which is something I have dreamed about doing since high school. I know that this is going to be an amazing experience for me, as I get to discover what God has planned for my life :)

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Important Message to Families of Team Members



The team will have email and internet access throughout the trip. However, the communication infrastructure in Burkina Faso is rather unreliable. We hope to update the blog at least every other day, starting Jan. 4. But please do not be concerned if there is no update for several days or if promised email/phone communication ceases for a time. This is normal in a developing country.

Please refrain from calling the Collaboratory or Messiah College simply because of 'no news', since periods like this are to be expected. In the case of a serious problem, someone from SIM or the team will drive to a nearby town to get a message out to Tony Caito, Collaboratory Manager, and he will contact families. So no news really is good news.

The Collaboratory has sent more than 100 students to Burkina Faso over the last decade, on over 10 teams. Except for minor illnesses, all teams have been fine in the past, every day, and SIM has taken good care of us. This is what you should assume.

By January 5, we will have Burkinabe team cell phones, and your son or daughter can purchase international minutes to call home, at a cost of roughly $2/minute. You'll notice a slight time delay in the conversation; you'll speak and there is a pause before you hear a response.

Please remember that Burkina Faso is 5 hours ahead of Pennsylvania time.

Thank you so much for entrusting your son or daughter in this experience. As we travel, we pray for our families back home and ask for your prayer support as well.

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HEY

HEY ALL. Incase you haven't looked at the calendar lately, its roughly 46 days till we make the big journey! This is the test post :) Happy Thursday night of homework and have a great thanksgiving!

How awesome is this?!



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