We were connected to Kajinge in 2022 via IDA Rwanda, an organization that works with Engineers Without Borders chapters to bring clean water to communities in Rwanda in need. Kajinge is a small, rural 7,000 resident community in western Rwanda. The school there supports students from surrounding villages and communities. ​The school has 1,100 students, ages 5-18, most of whom walk over an hour to get to the school. ​

In May of 2025 we sent our first travel team on an assessment trip, where they collected project data and were successful in establishing a relationship with the community.​ Our chapter is now in the design stage for a spring fed gravity assisted water distribution system that will utilize the natural spring located 700m uphill from the school to distribute clean water to the school and village.​

Our chapter is committed to working with the residents of Kajinge to implement this pipeline system and bring clean water to the school and village. We will be working closely with IDA Rwanda, UVM faculty, local Vermont Engineers, and our national organization Engineers Without Borders to successfully complete this project. We will be building our skills with surveying, water quality testing and treatment, and hydraulic flow design. If this is something that interests you, or you want to know how you can support this project, please contact our Outreach Liaison Garrett Webster garrett.webster@uvm.edu or Fundraising Director Kita Guerra kita.guerra@uvm.edu.

Read about our recent trip to Rwanda

Help support EWB's Kajinge Pipeline Project 

The Kajinge pipeline project is both ambitious and desperately needed. As with all engineering projects, regardless of scale, securing adequate funding is a critical component of its success. UVM's EWB club members have launched a fundraising campaign in coordination with the University of Vermont Foundation to help raise the estimated $80,000 to $100,000 needed to fund the design and installation of the new water supply for Kajinge's school.Please donate today

In March of 2025, our chapter adopted a domestic project through CECorps with the Catskills Montessori School. This school serves 110 students from kindergarten through high school. The school is embarking on ambitious construction and renovation projects to cater to the growing needs of their student population. They have submitted architectural and engineering drawings, but the Town Planning Board is requesting they address stormwater drainage concerns before approving the expansion. This is where our domestic team was selected to help. We are working to provide the designs necessary to address the stormwater management concerns through grading and best management practices that will meet the Planning Board’s satisfaction. 

Our team traveled to the school in April to conduct a site visit and collect valuable topographic data. They also connected with the school’s headmaster and have been working with him to create the most sustainable, integrative design possible.

When the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) reached out to the University of Vermont chapter of Engineers Without Borders (EWB) to assist local communities with their recovery from the devastating floods this summer, we responded by connecting and ultimately partnering with several local Long Term Recovery Groups. Our chapter is taking an active role in clean-up efforts, volunteering on weekends to do the dirty and difficult work required to help save homes and structures from the threat of further damage caused by rot from packed, damp mud. 

In early March of 2020, our chapter traveled to Arusha, Tanzania to scope out a solar lighting project at the LOHADA orphanage and pre-secondary school. We met stakeholders, established relationships with a few trusted in-country partners and handlers and took initial measurements on the school grounds. Our project’s goal would be to install a PV solar system to provide lighting and outlets to the girls’ dormitory and eldest age group classrooms. The headmistress (Happiness Wambura) requested lighting for the girls’ dormitory for their safety at night and for the classrooms so students could study for secondary school entrance exams after dark. As most know, the pandemic halted nearly all global travel. However, once the pandemic subsided, we started to refocus and come up with a plan to return to LOHADA. Over winter break 2022-23, a group of four student members and our advisor, Marc Companion, traveled back to Tanzania to implement the project. While there, the intended solar module system was installed, education on solar energy was shared with the children of LOHADA, and our group was able to learn more about sustainable engineering implementation and Tanzanian culture. This trip was successful in terms of the project, as well as experiencing engineering in the real world for the students who attended and those who helped coordinate from Vermont over the few years that the project took place.