The EWB club traveled to Arusha, Tanzania over spring break 2020 to begin a solar lighting project at the Camp Joshua Orphanage that is home to over 100 children from the nearby Unga Limited slums. Environmental Engineering senior Kirsten Jensen and sophomore Cassidy Vaccari and Biomedical Engineering junior Joe DeGennaro, along with their club faculty advisor Marc Companion of Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources spent ten fantastic days in Tanzania. They collected data at the orphanage to enable EWB club members back at UVM to design a solar system. They also established a relationship with a local technical college, KIITEC, that specializes in training students for the solar industry.

EWoB 2KIITEC and its students will review the design, procure materials when EWB returns to Arusha to assist in the construction and also to help with the installation. Independent of the orphanage project, the EWB team also met with faculty and graduate students at the Nelson Mandela African Institution of Science and Technology. They joined them on a visit to Ngurdoto village’s 10kW solar project and participated in a brainstorming session with community members of Kisongo town focused on regenerative design. Of course, no trip to Tanzania would be complete without a wildlife camping safari to Tarangire National Park located near the Serengeti! The club can’t wait to get to Arusha for more authentic Ethiopian food as well!