Since 2005, the nonprofit organization Village Health Project (VHP) has been ensuring access to clean water for people living in villages across Uganda. Now, as VHP celebrates its 20th year, a group of undergraduate students is helping to continue the organization’s work. They secured a $5,000 Knapp Bequest award to install six new water tanks in the villages of Lweza and Kanganda in Mukono, Uganda. The funded project is led by James Ntambi, a professor in the Department of Biochemistry, and John Ferrick, former associate director of international programs at the College of Agriultural and Life Sciences, in collaboration with undergraduate students Claudia Biebel, Taylor Lee, and Neha Kulkarni.
Biebel, a senior majoring in biochemistry with certificates in global health and disability rights and services, was first introduced to VHP while she was studying abroad in Uganda in 2024. “We saw that the villages of Lweza and Kanganda continue to face challenges in securing reliable water sources — an issue that cascades into broader health and social issues,” says Biebel.
VHP was founded by a group of UW–Madison students who were inspired by what they learned and saw while studying abroad through the Uganda Program, which Ntambi and Ferrick have led together for more than two decades. Both Ntambi and Ferrick encouraged student participation, which led to VHP evolving and expanding to include projects supporting microenterprises, biodigesters, and other community-based needs. Kim Isely, a founding member of VHP, still serves as the organization’s executive director.
VHP has helped to install over 30 rainwater collection tanks in parts of the country where clean drinking water is limited. With Knapp Bequest award funds, students will help VHP install additional tanks and collaborate with community leaders in Lweza and Kanganda to distribute informational pamphlets detailing proper use and maintenance of the water tanks.
“In the villages like Lweza and Kanganda, children and adults sometimes travel several kilometers carrying water jugs to and from their homes. Additionally, poor water quality is detrimental to health as it transmits waterborne diseases,” says Biebel. “In building these rainwater collection tanks, water scarcity will be reduced in these communities. And, this initiative is important for the UW-Madison community as a whole. It helps to foster cross-cultural collaboration and unique learning opportunities.”
Of the course of his career, Ntambi has brought hundreds of students — as well as his vast knowledge of metabolic disorders and how to address them — back to his native Uganda. Both Ntambi and Ferrick see great value in VHP’s work continuing to be student-led, both for the longevity of the project and for the future of public health at home and abroad.
“There are many aspects to health: some are simple to address and some require expert knowledge. The original idea of VHP was to support health through clean water because clean water and health are inseparable,” explains Ntambi. “We are seeing that students can promote health in a region or in a community by addressing the clean water aspect. And by doing this, they are being directly involved in public health. And we see that their commitment to public health continues when they come back to Madison. A lot of them end up in health-related careers.”
Written by Renata Solan.