For most college students, a class project ends with a presentation. For a group of Arizona State University students, it ended with clean water.
Members of ASU's Engineers Without Borders chapter recently returned from Kenya after completing a borehole well project that will provide reliable drinking water to roughly 500 students at two rural schools.
Before the project, many families relied on distant ponds for water, often walking miles to collect it. Even then, the water was frequently contaminated and unsafe to drink.
The student-led team spent nearly a year planning, fundraising, designing and coordinating the project before traveling overseas to help bring it to life. Working alongside local contractors, community members and students, they helped install a sustainable water system connected to an underground aquifer located between the two schools.
The project is part of a partnership that stretches back more than a decade. ASU's Engineers Without Borders chapter has worked in the region since 2011 and has completed multiple humanitarian engineering projects focused on improving quality of life through sustainable solutions.
ABC15's Cameron Polom followed the students as they reflected on the trip that took them from a classroom in Tempe to a community thousands of miles away — and the moment they watched clean water flow for the very first time.
Watch the story in the video player above.
Uplifting Arizona
Share your stories of hope and celebration! Have an uplifting story from your Arizona community?
