Engineers Without Borders at MSU

It has been quite a while since our last blog post and a lot has being
happening here in Khwisero. I am Kalen Ramey, one of the project
managers here this summer and I have really been enjoying being back
in Khwisero. It has also been really awesome to see all of the new
travelers getting to know the area, and to see each of the teams doing
amazing work. My team is stationed near Mundeku primary school as we
continue to work on the distribution line project.

This project is proving to be very complex mainly for economic and
social reasons. After so much work on the technical aspects of the
project in Bozeman this last semester it has been quite the switch to
come here and really look at the social side of the project. Every
day I feel like we uncover a new complexity. Our work thus far has
been on trying to improve community involvement and strengthen the MEM
committee. The MEM committee was created over the winter trip to
manage the project and is composed of members from each of the
sublocations: MUlwanda, Emutsasa and Mundeku.

These past two weeks we have been working our way around the community
attending barazas (community meetings) at each of the schools along
the route. Today we attended a baraza at Ebuyonga primary school. We
toured the school and got to meet each class, at which time the
students grilled us with questions about the US. Then we got the
chance to see the students perform the dances that they have done in
regional competitions, the dances were amazing. Watching them dance
was definitely my favorite part of the day. Then we had a chance to
speak with parents to convey to them information about the project. I
was especially nervous today because it was my first time speaking at
a baraza, but everything went smoothly and I was assured that the
speech was perfect.

This past week we also met with a couple potential contractors and
have been looking at the bids that were submitted for the project.
Hopefully the MEM committee will be able to meet with the contractors
again this week and then make a selection, so that Justin (our
professional engineer team member) will be able to assist with the
contractor selection and help finalize the designs before leaving Khwisero.

Unfortunately we have been unable to pin down the Member of Parliament
and get the CDF money that was promised for the project. At the
barazas we have been telling the community that our ability to
continue going forward with the project depends on two things:
community preparedness, and the arrival of CDF money.

There is definitely much work do be done still this summer, and at
times I am skeptical about how everything is going to be able to come
together. A project with as many complexities as the distribution
line I want to be sure that everything is set up so that the project
can last for years to come. That said, being around the students and
getting to meet them it is impossible not to want to pour everything
we can into this project.

There's lots of work to do still, but we're feeling pretty optimistic
and having an awesome time here in Khwisero. Thanks for reading!