Documentary "Water for Mulobere" premieres April 27 at the University of Minnesota
Film follows the U of M chapter of Engineers Without Borders as they travel to Uganda and install a solar-powered water pump at the Hope Integrated Academy
Contacts: Todd Reubold, Institute on the Environment, reub0002@umn.edu, (612) 624-6140
Jeff Falk, University News Service, jfalk@umn.edu, (612) 626-1720
MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL (04/16/2010) —The short documentary “Water for Mulobere” will premiere at 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 27, at the University of Minnesota’s Coffman Union Theater, 300 Washington Ave. S.E., Minneapolis.
During the summer of 2009, a team of up-and-coming engineers helped bring clean drinking water to an African village. As part of an Engineers Without Borders project, the University of Minnesota student group installed a solar-powered water supply system for an entire school and its surrounding community in Mulobere, Uganda. Beth Anderson, video producer with the University of Minnesota’s Institute on the Environment, was there to capture the story on video.
“I hope that by seeing the documentary people will realize what a problem the lack of safe drinking water is around the world,” Anderson says. “In the case of this particular community in Uganda, if a student has to spend hours each day collecting water or becomes sick after drinking unsafe water, the result is less time spent in school.”
The evening begins with a performance by the Hayor Bibimma African Dance Company and closes with a Q&A session with several of the students and the filmmaker. Julian Marshall, professor in the civil engineering department and faculty advisor for the U of M chapter of Engineers Without Borders, will serve as emcee for the evening.
The goal of Engineers Without Borders is to help create a more stable and prosperous world by partnering with local organizations and NGO’s to provide necessities such as clean water, power, sanitation and education to communities around the world. The University of Minnesota chapter that traveled to Uganda included undergraduate and graduate students from the Institute of Technology (soon to be called the College of Science and Engineering) and the School of Public Health.
The documentary was produced by the University of Minnesota’s Institute on the Environment and the Initiative for Renewable Energy and the Environment (IREE). The Institute and IREE also provided funding for the Uganda project. The premiere is being supported by a grant from the University of Minnesota’s Office of International Programs’ Global Spotlight initiative.
The event is free and open to the public. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and the event starts at 7 p.m. Seating is limited and attendees are asked to arrive early.
A Water for Mulobere trailer can be viewed at: http://environment.umn.edu/multimedia/video_waterformulobere_trailer.html.