Malawi Bridge Project: EWB-UIUC

We are the Malawi Structures Project from the University of Illinois Chapter of Engineers Without Borders. Our project is located in the community of Chilaweni in rural Malawi – a country in south central Africa. Within the community of Chilaweni are several rivers including the Lunzu River – the largest river in the region. The river runs through the community separating people from existing resources in the community including:

-          Schools
-          Employment
-          Markets
-          Clinics
-          Hospitals
-          Child-care
-          Churches

The 15,000 community members often face the tough decision during the rainy season requiring them to risk their lives to cross the river and access these resources. We have twice been to Malawi to collect data needed to design the bridge and during both trips a community member has lost their life crossing the river. The river can be over 4 meters (13 feet) deep during the rainy season. Other problems include:

-          Children are held back in school due to missed classes. This results in these children not being prepared to take exams given out at certain ages and they thus cannot continue in school.
-          Medical care can be too dangerous to access. The leads to many medical conditions to becoming more serious and even deadly.
-          Community members often have crops go bad since they cannot make it to the market. This hurts their ability to support their families.
-          Community members cannot hold down steady employment as they cannot safely get to employment year round

The current crossing (shown below during the rainy season with only one foot of water) is a rock formation. During the rainy season water can reach over twice the height of the people crossing. This crossing is dangerous to children, the elderly, and disabled community members year-round. The bridge we are constructing will provide safe, sustainable, year-round access to existing resources for all community members.


This bridge will be steel deck with concrete piers and constructed in partnership with the community. Several materials being locally sourced within the community. Community members will be involved in the construction, which will be led by our team and a professional contractor, which will teach them how to maintain the bridge long into the future. The bridge design, which has been done in conjunction with professional structural engineers, is nearly complete.

We need your support to fund the construction of this bridge.

The bridge will cost approximately $65,000 USD to construct including materials, skilled labor, transport, etc. The bridge is 41 meters long (135 ft) and nearly 5 meters (16 feet) above the river bed. Construction is slated to start in May/July of 2018 and last several months.