CUE Home >> Features >> Engineers Without Borders Takes on Water and Reconciliation in Rwanda

CUE 2004

ACADEMIC YEAR IN REVIEW
Engineers Without Borders Takes on Water and Reconciliation in Rwanda

CU engineering student Evan Thomas inspects part of the water system serving Muramba, Rwanda, while community leaders and children look on.

In April 1994, Rwanda was decimated by a genocide that left 800,000 people dead in 100 days. A decade later, a team of students, faculty, and professional engineers has joined with members of Rwanda's Hutu and Tutsi communities to bring clean drinking water and a better quality of life for a village affected by the tragedy.

Rwanda is one of 22 countries around the world now being assisted by Engineers Without Borders-USA, a non-profit organization with 65 student chapters and 800 members focused on bringing sustainable engineering solutions to problems in the developing world.

CU engineering Professor Bernard Amadei, who founded EWB-USA and the Engineering for Developing Communities program at CU-Boulder, coordinated the group's first trip to the central African nation in March 2004.

The team, which included students from CU-Boulder and the University of Wisconsin-Madison, along with a professional engineer, nurse, and cultural consultant, traveled to Muramba, a desperately poor region in the country's mountainous northwest that has received no assistance from government or non-governmental organizations.

The community of some 6,000 people struggles with frequent illness as a result of poor drinking water, while a 14-month drought, poor soil conditions, and a lack of irrigation have caused near famine conditions.

During the visit, the American team surveyed the community's 75-year-old, gravity-fed water system, introduced drip irrigation techniques, and met with students at the Kigali Institute of Science and Technology, EWB's in-country partner on the project. The team also met with Rwanda President Paul Kagame, who expressed support for the project and pledged to repair the road so supplies can be brought in.

"I am extremely glad I had the opportunity to travel to Rwanda and meet the amazing people there," says Mechanical Engineering student Keir Hart. "Rwanda pulled my emotions in every direction and demanded that I simultaneously grow in whole new ways, personally, spiritually, and professionally."

The team plans to return in summer 2004, to begin implementation of water system repairs. Engineering teams also will return in subsequent years to address other needs identified by community leaders.