K-State Engineers Without Borders partners with Malawi community on schoolhouse project
A team of students, faculty and alumni from K-State's Engineers Without Borders chapter recently traveled to Ifumbo, Malawi, to collaborate with local partners on constructing a two-classroom schoolhouse to support community-identified educational needs.
In May 2025, a team from Kansas State University's Engineers Without Borders, or EWB, chapter traveled to Ifumbo, a village in northern Malawi, to collaborate on the construction of a new two-classroom schoolhouse.
The project began in 2022 after the Ifumbo Village Development Committee identified the need for safer and more functional learning spaces for the nearly 700 students at Ifumbo Primary School. Existing buildings, some built in the 1940s, are in disrepair and lack essentials such as doors, windows and electricity, which often forces classes to be held outdoors.
The schoolhouse is the result of a three-way partnership between K-State's EWB chapter, local nonprofit Make A Difference Africa, or MADAF, and the Ifumbo community. K-State's chapter provides design expertise and fundraising, MADAF coordinates logistics on the ground, and the local community contributes building materials and determines the project's priorities. This collaborative approach ensures the final structure reflects local needs and remains sustainable long-term.
The K-State travel team—students, recent graduates and faculty from the Carl R. Ice College of Engineering—spent two weeks on-site, working with local contractors and leaders to monitor progress and address construction challenges such as grading and electrical planning.
Construction, which began in late 2024, involves extensive physical labor using locally available tools and methods. The travel team observed the masons' efficient techniques for moving materials and building the structure block by block.
The project is in its final phase, with roofing, plastering, finishes and electrical work underway. Once complete, the schoolhouse will provide additional space for learning and support the community's efforts to improve educational access. K-State's EWB chapter will continue to remotely monitor progress and plans to return in 2027 to evaluate the building's performance and gather feedback for potential future collaborations.
Submitted by Ethan Fleming, ethan92@k-state.edu