Last week proved to be a busy week for us! Following on from the success of a great presentation at the IESIS AGM the night previously, the team were ready for the formal launch of FemEng in Rwanda 2018 on Wednesday the 18th of April.
At 5:30, the doors of the grand atrium of the Wolfson Medical building opened to welcome friends, family, university staff members and of course past, present and potential sponsors of the project to hear more about the trip.
The night kicked off with a drinks reception, allowing the guests to meet the team members, both past and present, as well as to socialise with each other and take the opportunity to view our poster gallery- a display of images from previous trips. This proved to be very successful and provided an excellent talking point in regards to what we plan to get up to during our time away.
Drinks reception.
We then moved inside to listen to Professor John Briggs, the International Dean for Africa at the University of Glasgow, who opened the evening presentation with an excellent summary of the work that the University does and has done over a number of years both with the University of Rwanda and our other African partner institutions. He was very careful to emphasise the collaborative aspects of the project and how important they are to the team, which was very much appreciated due to their position as an aim at the forefront of the project. Professor Briggs then introduced our Project Manager Paula Pappas, who went on to give an excellent presentation on the history and formation of the project, how it has developed over past years, what we have learned from each visit and how we intend to use this information to improve and extend our impact this year. This was vitally important due to the ever changing nature of the project, as we try to mould our focus to what best suits our Rwandan counterparts each year. Paula closed the presentation with a summary of how we fund the trip, where our funding goes and ways to get involved- both financially and ideologically.
Paula explaining the core values of the project.
In my personal opinion, the most promising aspect of the evening was the interest following Paula’s presentation. The entire team were kept busy answering questions and generally discussing the aims and motivations of the project at least half an hour after the presentation had closed. It was incredibly encouraging to see so much engagement, participation and personal interest in something that is so close to all of our hearts; the entire team left feeling incredibly inspired by the whole evening.
Morgan and Eloïse discussing the project with Western Ferries.
On that note, we would like to thank kindly all that came to support us last week over both events. We thoroughly enjoyed getting to meet and speak to as many of you as possible and look forward to keeping you updated as the project progresses.
If you would like any further information on the project, would like to contribute in any way or simply would like to communicate with us, feel free to get in touch: femengrwanda@gmail.com
Written by Holly-Mo Vyse, 4th Year Civil Engineer.
FemEng in Rwanda 