Dispatches from Uganda - Follow up

     I've recently returned from the assessment trip to Shilongo Village, Mbale District in Uganda, which was a fruitful and successful visit. The project is part of the Engineers without Borders program, run through the Tufts University chapter, where I serve as the project mentor.  The travel project team of five students and was highly motivated, resourceful and pragmatic in carrying out the tasks we had defined in the pre-trip planning.

     Upon arrival in the village, we realized that there were multiple sources of water available within the village, and we would need to determine the water quality levels in each source as well as an estimate of how frequently used each source was. The project team strategically utilized each team member's specific skill sets to carry out certain tasks. The students with a more technical background took the lead on the water quality testing and the students with non-technical backgrounds took the lead on the community health surveys. All team members helped each other out and stayed on top of the tasks to make sure we gathered all the information we needed in our limited time in the country. I was very impressed with the students on this trip; their compassion for the people of the village, as well as their willingness to help tempered with the reality of the limitations for the project, showed me that they were a mature, intelligent, inspired collection.  We accomplished a lot in our short time over there, including water quality sampling and testing of the sources (2 boreholes and three springs), as well as limited topographic survey of the areas surrounding the springs. We also held meetings with community leaders and interacted with the general community members. The people in Shilongo were very welcoming and appreciative of our efforts. They will play a crucial role in the long term success of the project, so it was reassuring to see their excitement and commitment to the project.

     As the project moves forward, our background data collections indicates that there will be four (4) potential courses of action for this project, listed in order of importance to the village:

1.  Collection, storage and distribution for the village at the Shilongo Borehole, the main drinking water source in the village

2.  Collection, treatment and storage at the Nabubolo spring or one of the other springs

3.  Rainwater harvesting, and

4.  Development of a brick production process for the village

     The team collected a large amount of useful data during this assessment trip. We will need to pull together all of the GPS, topographic survey, community heath survey  and water quality information in order to put together a design that will aide maximum amount of villagers possible, utilizing sustainable design practices and materials locally available in the Mbale district. The design process will occur over the next year, once Tufts resumes classes and we should have a design ready to be implemented by the second trip, around the same time next year.