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Tanzania Project
The community of Mambarare sits over 7 km (4.3 miles) from the nearest freshwater source, leaving over 1,250 people with limited access to freshwater. Women and children are forced to make long, daily walks to retrieve only as much water as they can carry.
Lacking sufficient water has made all aspects of daily life more difficult – cooking, cleaning, bathing, farming – and has led to arguments and violence within some homes, especially towards women and children.
The Engineers Without Borders Philadelphia Chapter and our partners in the international women’s organization The Grail will spend the next three years working with the Mambarare community to develop a reliable and sustainable freshwater supply within the village.
Access to a dependable source of freshwater will allow the women and children of Mambarare to pursue more opportunities, such as education and leadership roles, while also improving public health and peacefulness within the community.
Water for All 5K
On June 13th, we will be hosting a 5k run in support of the Mambarare water supply project. The run will be held on Kelly Drive at 8:30am. All money raised for the event will go towards funding the project and bringing water to our friends in Tanzania.
This race is a fundraiser supporting the Mambarare Water Supply Project led by the Engineers Without Borders – Philadelphia Professional Chapter, whose members volunteer their engineering skills to partner with communities around the world to design and implement sustainable infrastructure projects. Through long-term collaboration, our teams work to improve access to essential resources like clean water, sanitation, and reliable infrastructure.
Proceeds from this event will support our chapter’s water supply project in Mambarare, Tanzania, where we are partnering with a community to help develop sustainable solutions for safe and reliable drinking water. Funds raised through the race will help support project design, materials, construction, and the travel required for engineers and volunteers to work alongside local partners.
But this race is about more than fundraising – it’s about community, impact, and the ripple effect of collective action. Every mile run represents the steps many people take each day just to access water, and every participant helps move us closer to a future where safe water is accessible to all.
Join us for a morning of running, community, and purpose as we take steps together toward a world with clean water for every community.
Project Team
A short and sweet title for this section.
Tanzania Project Team Lead
Darien Schreffler has been advancing global water access through Engineers Without Borders since 2015, beginning with the Drexel University chapter before joining the Philadelphia Professional Chapter in 2021. Over the past decade, he has contributed to multiple international water supply projects, driven by a deep commitment to expanding access to clean, reliable water in underserved communities.
Professionally, Darien is a water engineer with six years of experience spanning stormwater management, water treatment design, construction administration, and program development. His technical expertise is matched by a global perspective, having lived in five countries outside the United States and participated in fieldwork through EWB project trips.
In addition to his project work, Darien serves as a mentor to the Temple University EWB chapter, advising student engineers on the design and implementation of their international project in Ecuador. He is passionate about building sustainable, community-centered solutions and continues to focus on developing impactful water infrastructure projects in regions where they are needed most.
International Project Co-Lead
Steven currently works as a Field Engineer for Amtrak, managing new infrastructure construction. He joined Engineers without Borders in 2022 as a member of the Temple University Student Chapter, where he served as a local project lead and the international project design team lead for a sanitation project in Ecuador. Steven also works as a co-lead for the current Tanzania Water Supply project.
PMEL Lead
Matt Philbin is a civil engineering professional working at AECOM, specializing in transportation design. Matt graduated from Temple University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Civil Engineering in 2024. He has been employed at AECOM for about two years working with the roadway/highway design team. Alongside volunteering with Engineers Without Borders, Matt is also a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers Younger Members Forum in Philadelphia.
Responsible Engineer in Charge (REIC)
Steve Britt has 13 years of experience as a water/wastewater engineer in the Mid-Atlantic area. He is really excited to contribute to the people of Mambarare as the project’s REIC. He and his wife went to Tanzania on their honeymoon, so this project is the perfect way to combine his professional skills with meaningful volunteer work in Northern Tanzania.
Vice President
Matt currently works as a Project Manager at the Philadelphia Gas Works and is a certified Project Management Professional (P.M.P). He was first involved with the University of Delaware Chapter of Engineers Without Borders, where he led a water distribution project for 500 people in the Philippines while studying Mechanical Engineering. Matt assists in overseeing all Chapter operations and supports fundraising efforts for the Tanzania Project.
Domestic Project Lead
Olya Zhugayevich is the Project Lead for the Domestic Project with Open Kitchen Sculpture Garden and a Co-lead of the Fundraising Committee for the International Project in Tanzania. They are a civil/environmental engineer who graduated from Temple University in 2023. They have experience working in consulting, education, government, non-profits, and research. Their fields include site investigation and remediation, hazardous waste removal, wastewater treatment, and transit design. Outside of engineering, Olya is an activist, artist, and musician.
The community members of Mambarare, typically women and children, face a walk as far as 7 km daily to retrieve fresh water.
The community of Mambarare is a small, rural community located in the Kilimanjaro region of Tanzania.
There are an estimated 1,250 members of the Mambarare community. Most people are subsistence farmers, growing crops like maize and beans, and raising livestock.