Engineers Without Borders in Uganda

EWB Team poses for a photograph in Uganda

Over winter break, three teams of students, faculty, staff, and professional mentors visited sites of current projects with the Carroll chapter of Engineers Without Borders. The chapter currently has projects in Mexico, Guatemala, St. Lucia, and Uganda. 

Five Carroll College students and three mentors traveled to Uganda from December 31, 2017 to January 14, 208 to oversee the rehabilitation of three wells that supply drinking water to Holy Trinity Secondary School and the surrounding villages.  The travel team was hosted in Uganda by Fr. Julius Bwowe, a priest of the Archdiocese of Kampala, who has made several visits to Helena over the past ten years and was instrumental in the founding of Holy Trinity School.

The existing wells suffered from a number of problems, ranging from poor water quality (due to the rusting of galvanized iron pipes) to broken parts and inadequate drainage and fencing.  The EWB team worked with a local drilling contractor (Draco (U) Ltd.) and with village residents, to remove the existing rusted hardware, install new PVC pipes with stainless steel couplings, and construct soak pits and fences around the well sites. The team also conducted training sessions for the villages’ Water User Committees, to inform them about proper well maintenance procedures and costs, and to stress the importance of sanitary water handling practices. The rehabilitated wells were formally presented to the community at a “ribbon-cutting” in the village.

The next planned phase for this project is to drill a new well on the grounds of Holy Trinity School.  If this well’s flow rate is adequate, a motorized pump and elevated storage tank will be installed, to provide gravity-fed piped water to school buildings.

Learn more about global service opportunities for all students through Engineers Without Borders. 

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