Engineers’ mission for girls of Rwanda

A TEAM of women engineers from Glasgow University is making final preparations ahead of a visit to Rwanda.

Eight students from the university’s School of Engineering make up the FemEng in Rwanda project, which aims to encourage Rwandan schoolgirls to consider careers in science, engineering, and entrepreneurship.

On June 27, they fly to Kigali for their second visit to Rwanda.

As first told in the Evening Times, last summer, they met with more than 500 local schoolgirls with the help of a 16-person team of Rwandan students and high-school graduates.

This year, they will be working with Glasgow University PhD student Jumai Abioye and her company IAE Africa, a social enterprise startup focused on improving higher education and helping young Africans develop valuable new skills.

FemEng project manager Ellen Simmons said: “This project is a learning curve for everyone involved and you can clearly see the impact on both the team members and the participating children and teachers.

“What we offer is a new way of teaching that turns school subjects into careers and real-life applications with a great set of role models leading the way.”

The FemEng team is also addressing the fact that many young women in Rwanda consider sanitary products to be ‘luxury items’, which plays a role in reducing attendance at school or university.

The team are partnering with AFRIpads in order to provide reusable sanitary products to those who struggle to afford their own.

After their return to Glasgow this year, FemEng will be working alongside Sandra White MSP, Patrick Grady MP and Glasgow City Council, to ensure long-term sustainable effects both in Glasgow and abroad by discussing strategies for growth.