Muli Buti to Zambia Night 2014
What an amazing night for Engineers without Borders at BU! On November 13th, EWB held our first ever Zambian Cultural Night, complete with a dance performance by Afrithms, authentic food, and drum circle. With over 150 attendees, this celebration proved to be the highlight of EWB at BU’s year so far! We welcomed attendees with “Muli Buti,’ a Zambian greeting, and continued to share Zambian culture through a donations table filled with prizes straight from Zambia. Pictured below, these included African-inspired bracelets, soccer jerseys, paintings, and decorative bowls.
The highlight of the event was the panel on sustainable development in Sub-Saharan Africa. The panel included Singumbe Muyeba, Dr. Yeboah-Antwi, Sara Gille, and Jacqueline Linnes. Each member of the panel has experience with the life, culture, and challenges that Sub-Saharan Africa faces. Singumbe Muyeba is originally from Zambia and is currently a post-doctoral research fellow for the South African National Research Foundation. Dr. Yeboah-Antwi is an assistant professor at BU’s school of Public Health. Sara Gille worked extensively in the Zambia Center for Applied Health Research and Development. And finally, Jacqueline Linnes currently works on the design and implementation of diagnostics for sexually transmitted diseases as a postdoctoral associate at BU. A great group provided great discussion between the panelists and between attendees about implementing projects in Africa. Dr. Linnes suggested: “there needs to be a strategy and an exit strategy [when going into a community], so that the community can sustain these projects after we have left.” This idea is a huge part of EWB’s goal as an organization, we try to create sustainable and easily maintained projects in order to leave our community fully prepared to maintain and sustain them.
This inspirational panel was followed by an lively, interactive drum circle called DrumConnection. Led by Alan Tauber, the group performed as people jumped in to try the drums and other instruments right along with the drummers. This was the perfect way to end our celebration of culture! Zambian Cultural Night marked the largest fundraising event of the year for EWB at BU. Expanding on the Silent Auctions we held in previous years, this event will hopefully be repeated in years to come! We appreciate all the support from local businesses, BU professors, students, and the members of Engineers without Borders! If you missed our event and would like to help us fundraise for our fourth trip this summer to Zambia, please visit http://www.ewbbu.com/donate.html.
