A week ago, I was just finishing my second June project trip, this time at Uganda Christian University (UCU), just outside Kampala. As I explained in previous posts, this project was different than most EMI project trips. (I've said that about all 3 of my project trips now, but other people have also agreed that I still haven't participated in a "typical" EMI project.) Generally, an organization needs a few new buildings and maybe a small master plan design. We come in and survey the land, design the general master plan, design a few specific "phase 1" buildings in detail, and then the civil engineers design the water and wastewater systems for the site.
The UCU project very unusual and pretty exciting in that we got to work with a Ugandan architecture firm who had surveyed the entire college campus and developed a master plan, including a general drainage solution. Our job was to evaluate and provide recommendations in reaction to their analysis and recommendations, and then also to add some additional detail in 3 specific problem spots on campus. This was also a super fast trip. We were only on campus for 4.5 days, including our final presentation to the faculty. UCU was also an unusual client in that they're not directly serving "the poor" (since they're generally serving people who can afford to pay for college (or afford not to get a job instead), although I think many students do receive scholarships). I thought it was a good reminder that high-quality education is such an important factor when considering the long-term, sustainable development that Uganda needs. This Christian university is raising up Uganda's future leaders, providing them with high-quality academics and a solid foundation of faith. If Uganda is going to develop as a strong and healthy country, it will continue to need quality leaders in every arena of society.
We spent the first half of the week figuring out and analyzing what the Ugandan firm had done. We even got to meet with them and hear their vision for the site. It was exciting to hear how UCU wants to develop a long-term relationship with this firm (so that they're not relying solely on outside, "Western" consultants). We figured out what their drainage proposal was, and then we figured out what our recommendations would be.
For anyone who cares for the technical part: they get a lot of rain here, so we decided that in addition to just creating better ditches, etc. to channel all the water downhill and off campus, we would also try to create landscape/engineering features that would soak up as much water as possible next to each building or parking lot (areas where the rain can't soak in naturally). The cool thing I learned about this drainage technique is that it's practically helpful, environmentally-friendly, AND aesthetically pleasing (plants/trees help soak up water)! Then our architecture team took these recommendations and designed better solutions for 3 key problem areas for pedestrian circulation that UCU had (currently, almost all of their walkways are dirt, which become mud when it rains).
I was a little apprehensive about doing a drainage project since I knew nothing about it, but I actually am enjoying the project. I ended up spending much of the week coloring a large map/diagram for our presentation to show how the drainage plan worked. (Coloring is always fun. I didn't appreciate it enough as a child.) And I helped dig some holes for a percolation test, through which we found out that the soil soaks in water super quickly, which is good for our drainage design. At the end of the week, we gave a presentation of our drainage proposal and improved pedestrian walkways/spaces to a few key faculty, and it seemed to go really well. Then the American who was our host, invited us, some other visitors, and many of his coworkers to a big American BBQ, complete with hamburgers (cooked outside on a grill), potato salad, and a World Cup match!
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