International Women in Engineering Day celebrates women engineers and helps empower those who may feel anxious about entering the profession. To commemorate the day, Miriam Stanley Laizer (YES alumna 2009-2010, Tanzania, hosted in Muscatine, IA by IRIS) got together with 23 other female engineers to speak with women who also needed hope.

The women visited 240 patients at the Ocean Road Cancer Institute (ORCI) in Dar es Salaam. They talked with patients about pursuing their dreams and not giving up in their fights.

Women in engineering, much like women in any competitive career field, face multiple challenges in their profession. Typically, they aren’t seen as equally skilled coworkers to their male counterparts. International Women in Engineering Day looks to change these perceptions to help advance women within the field.

Miriam’s team for this project included 20 of her female colleagues and 3 young women currently pursuing a degree in engineering. The group decided to meet with women cancer patients because the day commemorated women fighting to change their circumstances.

“We had woman to woman discussions about their futures and their dreams,” Miriam said. “The main goal was to share the hope we as women engineers found so these brave women could win their battles too.”

In addition to their discussions, Miriam’s team also helped to clean up the wards and donated supplies such as soap, toothpaste, toothbrushes, brooms, mops, food and water. ORCI serves as the only specialized facility for cancer treatment in all of Tanzania, and the help of volunteers and donations is always appreciated by the staff and the patients. With support from the public, ORCI has created and maintained an accessible and affordable cancer health care system to help those who most need it, such as the women Miriam and her team visited.