Uganda 2019

Project Members: Ethan Austin (2022), Shami Chideya (2022), Alex Fine (2022), Sofia Hornstein (2022), James Marek (2022), Jenny Xin (2022)

In the summer of 2019, DEID will return to Uganda to complete the previous year’s construction of the vehicular bridge in Kanyegaramire. This bridge will improve safe access to healthcare, trade, and education in the rural community.

About a ten minute drive from the Kanyegaramire town center, the bridge site has had a dilapidated footbridge which pedestrians and motorcyclists have been able to utilize during the dry seasons.  However, the footbridge was not able to support heavier traffic or trade even under the best conditions. Upon arriving this summer, the DEID Uganda team found that half of the bridge had collapsed during the last wet season.  Though not many of the community’s residents are capable of swimming, many still braved the water or hired those who could swim to carry them and their possessions through the water.

The project spans from June 2nd to July 28th. DEID has partnered with DukeEngage to fund the student travel of this project. Construction materials are funded by donations, grants, and fundraisers. DEID remains partnered with Bringing Hope to the Family (BHTF). Students will live in the guest house of BHTF and travel the hour’s drive to  to Kanyegaramire to work on the construction to the bridge.

Since 2018, BHTF and volunteers from Kanyegaramire have continued construction of the bridge.

This summer, a team of 6 engineering students travelled to Uganda for 8 weeks to complete the construction of a vehicular bridge — a project that DEID engineering students started last year. Upon arrival, the frame of the bridge was complete: 8 two-meter culverts connected by walls of concrete. In their 8 week trip, the students worked alongside Bringing Hope to the Family as well as the community of Kanyegaramarie to fill the gaps between the culverts from the ground up; the gaps were filled with stones and maram, a clay/dirt mixture, which was then compressed. By the end of the 8 weeks, rebar cages were built and laid atop the bridge to help reinforce the 30cm-thick concrete slab, which is the final step in the construction of this bridge.