Whatever Became of Sara Ehrhardt?

In 2006, we did a Q&A with Sara

Jeanne: How old are you, Sara?

Sara: I'm 27.

Jeanne: So ten years ago you were a student at Riverview High. There are people who say that the high school years are “the best of times and the worst of times.” Can you tell me about the best times you had in high school?

Sara: To be honest it’s hard to remember the good times in high school!  It was a very bad period for me – I didn’t feel comfortable in my own skin during that time, and I suffered from a bad depression. But I had wonderful teachers (Mr. Smith from Moncton High, Mr. Layton, Mrs. Layton, and Mr. Trainor at Riverview High) who encouraged me. I had a great job as a swimming teacher at the Riverview High School pool, and I spent my grade 11 summer at the University of Waterloo though Shad Valley, a 6-week science and leadership camp. That program was very influential for me. I met other people like myself who had a strong interest and skills in both arts and the sciences and I was exposed to a bigger world of opportunities than I had previously seen. After Shad Valley, I came back to my last year of high school much more focused. Several other Greater Moncton students have taken part in this program and all have found it to be life changing.

Jeanne: What about the worst of times?

Sara: I was suicidal in high school and spent time in the Adolescent Psychiatric Unit at the Moncton Hospital. All teenagers have highs and lows, but my lows were deep and prolonged: I was very sick, very unhappy, and was being terrible to the people around me. I required institutional help to get back on my feet again – we are very lucky to have that Unit in the province.

Jeanne: So did you come out of the Hospital “healed”?

Sara: I didn't suddenly get better – I relapsed a few times, made mistakes that could have killed me, but eventually realized that the way out of the bad place I was in was within me – I had the choice and the opportunity to get better but I had to work at it. Today, my depression hasn't set me back one bit in life. In fact, I think it's made me a more focussed and empathetic individual. I still have ups and downs but I find myself much better equipped to handle them.

Jeanne:  People who accomplish their goals tend to be people with courage – and courage comes from encouragement. What have your greatest sources of encouragement been?

Sara:  I have always felt loved and supported by my family. I had some terrific teachers in high school who encouraged me. And while I'm not so sure how much courage I have myself, I've had the privilege of meeting amazing people whose stories keep me going. The other patients I met while I was in the Moncton Hospital, many who didn't feel as loved by their families as I did. The Aboriginal leaders,  community volunteers I worked with across the country through the Council of Canadians. The people I met this summer in Africa who are trying to improve their lives in the face of unbelievable circumstances. Whatever I do, these people are an endless source of inspiration and encouragement.

Jeanne: How did you come to be involved with Engineers Without Borders? Here in Canada it's a relatively new organization?

Sara: Engineers Without Borders (EWB) is a Canadian NGO that began as a small group at the University of Waterloo while I was a student there. It does work in Canada to make our country the most pro-development country in the world, and sends volunteers overseas to work with existing organizations in water, energy, and agriculture to improve their work on-the-ground. I became involved in EWB when they first started in 2000 by sending their first volunteer abroad, and have since been involved with the organization in all sorts of roles.

Today Engineers Without Borders is an award-winning international development organization with tens of thousands of members in Canada and dozens of volunteers working in organizations overseas. This summer I worked in Zambia, Malawi, and Ghana with EWB to assess their overseas programming.  In fact I ran into fellow Riverview native Bryn Ferris volunteering for them in Northern Ghana this summer. It had been three years since I'd done anything with the group and I continue to be amazed by the terrific work they are doing.

Jeanne: You’ve been to a number of third world countries?

Sara: I've spent time in Guyana, Mexico, Zambia, Malawi and Ghana and this has completely changed my life. I started university wanting to study engineering and all of a sudden I found myself in Guyana, sleeping in a hammock and working on a construction project as an international volunteer.

I came back to Canada filled with memories of the people I met in Guyana – my friends – and fearful for their future ... Would they make it through the next season? Would their children have enough to eat? I became determined to use my education to work directly with the world's poorest.

I've now worked in the third world a few times, and each time what upsets me the most is the sanitation situation – they say one billion people lack access to safe drinking water and 2.6 billion people in the world lack access to a safe toilet.

For me, this has meant having to wander around the street of suburban Accra (capital of Ghana) late at night looking for someone to buy dirty water from because the taps haven't been working for nearly a week and I want to be able to shower the next morning. It's meant not being able to find a washroom in the Mexican slums and having to defecate in an open sewer. So much of the world lives like this every day, and as Canadians there is actually a lot we can do to make this situation better.

I'm a big supporter of Make Poverty History (www.makepovertyhistory.ca ) and from what I've seen the most important thing we can all do to help is to see that Canada's policies don't hinder developing economies and that Canada's Official Development Assistance (how much of our tax dollars go to international development) is increased.

Jeanne: You've also worked with the Council of Canadians on their National Water Campaign. Does Canada really have to worry about running out of water?

Sara:  Yes, for two years I was the National Water Campaigner at the Council of Canadians. It's a funny thing – Canada has some of the largest freshwater resources in the world but it's not evenly distributed. There are have and have-not regions, and vast parts of the country, like much of the prairies and Alberta, are facing tough decisions around water management.

Jeanne: What about here in New Brunswick?

Sara: In New Brunswick we have to be vigilant: we are home to some unique coastal wetlands, and while the province has certainly made progress in terms of drinking water quality there is still a lot to do in groundwater and preparing for climate change impacts to our water resources.

On the international side, I really feel that we need to increase our foreign assistance in water. I was in a region of Ghana this summer where a large percentage of the regional government's budget for drinking water provision was being provided by the Canadian International Development Agency. While I have ideas around making Canada's development assistance more effective, this money that we are contributing in that region is absolutely essential for people to have safe drinking water.

This is something I would like to see us do more of: because we are viewed as a 'water rich' country, because we have so many global water experts in our country, we really should be contributing more internationally to global water problems. I think giving money for global water work is one of the most important things that the Government of Canada, and Canadians, can do.

Jeanne: And now you are at Harvard?

Sara: Yes, I'm in my second year of a Masters in Public Policy program, focusing on Political and Economic Development,  but still staying very active in water issues. I'm getting taught by former government Ministers and – well most days I have to pinch myself to believe I'm really here!

Jeanne: You've won a number of awards for "leadership". What does leadership mean to you?

Sara: Leadership to me is looking at where things are and where you want things to be ... then doing what you can, from where you are, to get things to that place you want them to be.

Jeanne: How do you feel about our world leaders?

Sara: I think there are some very inspirational leaders around the world right now: Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf (the president of Liberia) who is pulling together a country ravaged by war with incredible determination and strength, Ashraf Ghani (former Finance Minister in Afghanistan) who worked tirelessly to stabilize his country's economy while balancing the demands of the international community.

I get inspired by leaders that have vision but who also understand what their vision implies on the ground – what changes will be needed from the rest of us – and who really work with us to make it happen. Last year at school I was part of Harvard's 'Oval Office' fellowship, a training program for future female political leaders.

I think there needs to be more female candidates across Canada.  Having a female MP for so long in Moncton was, I feel, very encouraging.

Jeanne: Do you see yourself every running for political office?

Sara: I have to say that the Harvard Oval Office Program really made me think through what running for political office would mean for my family and friends. I would really need to be confident that the money and volunteer efforts that you need to run an effective campaign would be worth it. I think it is a very important thing to do (especially for women), but I'm not sure yet if it's the best way for me to be effective in forwarding the vision I have for Canada and our role in the world. That being said, I've always been interested in politics so I have no doubt I will keep being involved somehow.

Jeanne: You earned your Engineering degree at the University of Waterloo.  Do you feel your choice of University affected your path in life?

Definitely, although most of the 'off the beaten path' things I did came from my own initiative and not from the University so people could do those sorts of things from any school. But choosing to study outside of the province, entering a very rigorous quantitative program, and doing a co-op program (I worked six jobs in three countries, moving fourteen times over the course of five years!) made me grow up very quickly.

I had to learn to handle a lot of daily administrative stresses: organizing moves, negotiating with far-away landlords, and doing job interviews while midterms were going on. But the systems design engineering gave me a terrific foundation: I use skills I learned from that degree in everything I do and I really encourage anyone (especially women!) to consider studying engineering. The downside of my University decision is that it meant I only got back to Moncton once or twice a year: I didn't realize when I made the decision to study out-of-province that I would be far from home for such a long while: I continue to miss my parents and sisters, my grandparents, and the very special place that Moncton – the Maritimes.