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.