1. Samad Arshad. Engineering. Pembroke College. Matriculated 2012.
The Cambridge Development Initiative (CDI) is a student society and charity in Cambridge that works
throughout the academic year to plan innovative projects in engineering, education, health and
entrepreneurship which empower the communities in Tanzania.
The society has been running for three years, and its students travel to Tanzania to meet with their
Tanzanian counter parts, every summer to implement their project together. I was fortunate to hear of
the initiative through a college friend, now on the committee. I joined the engineering team in February
2016.
My trip to Tanzania lasted nine weeks. My role in CDI was Engineer for the Simplified Sewerage
expansion, and this involved being a treasurer, managing the project, leading a group of volunteers,
communicating across teams, and the occasional trench digging. The expansion project consisted of
connecting a further eleven houses to simplified sewerage, a scheme which aims to sustainably reduce
water-borne diseases in the area. I was responsible for implementing the long term vision of CDI into the
project – community empowerment.
My group and I spent most of our time in Vingunguti, an outer-town peri-urban area, built around a
large fecal sludge purification pond, and the current target area for CDI’s simplified sewerage
installation. Challenged with empowering the community, I soon realized the problems of poverty. The
communities didn’t have the chance to experience expensive construction projects, and were pleasantly
intrigued when we demonstrated a problem-solving attitude when technical construction problems
surfaced. There was a part of the sewer network which had to cut across concrete roads to discharge
into the waste ponds. We spent a good part of the summer requesting a digger to come on site, but
ultimately to no success. With just a couple days remaining till the end of the placement, we took to the
hand tools and got the locals together to break across the road. Working alongside some of them
showed me their desire for a new standard of living.
For the following weeks we wanted to make the community inherit the continual expansion of simplified
sewerage across Dar es Salaam. It all looked good on paper, as it was based off a successful project in
Pakistan, however I learnt about the problems of poverty upon implementation. Our plan to leave
money management to the community had been rejected as the families admitted they would misuse
the loan money if they had the chance. Even our Tanzanian partners had made a funny comment that
“the people would be drunk on the streets even before you’ve finished handing out the [loan] money”.
We had to reconsider how community-led expansion would work, in a community which don’t trust
themselves with money.

2. Samad Arshad. Engineering. Pembroke College. Matriculated 2012.
The first sewer connected latrine (left) of CDI stands proudly against the household’s old pit latrine
(right). Since then, there have been 40 new latrines built, and a further 11 connected this year.
Fortunately, my team were in talks with our government partners DAWASA, who offered to hire our CDI
Tanzania Project Director for continuation of the project. Government uptake for mass expansion of
simplified sewerage was always a goal for the CDI Engineering team, and it is after three years of
tangible results, that the sewage authority has shown a complete trust in our work.
In addition to engineering work, I spent a day with the CDI Education group who were helping students
solve problems at school. The most memorable was a group of students who had a plan to get the
uneducated youth around their area to raise money for their school fees by selling recycled goods. They
found that the youth were initially rejecting the idea, but after seeing other youth benefit from the
scheme, became invested in it themselves. What particularly stuck with me was how these school
students, aged 11-14, went out and were not afraid to approach people and test their plan.
Towards the end of the placement, we began trench digging for the final segment of the sewer network.
I had to leave before seeing the entire network accomplished. However, the Tanzanian CDI team worked
determinedly to complete and test the sewer network. Working with the Tanzanian CDI members
showed me their hardworking nature, and they frequently took the opportunity to share with me their
knowledge. One volunteer, who is now elected as CDI Tanzania President 2016-17, taught me about
keeping a ‘CV of failures’ which I could use to better understand myself.
Finally, it can be hard to go to Africa for the first time and not immerse into its wonders. We took a
weekend off to climb waterfalls in Udzungwa, see the Milky Way above Jambiani, and buy some spices
from coastal trading town, the Stone Town of Zanzibar.
This trip has improved my oral confidence, understanding of people, and has confirmed my interest for
international development. I plan to keep in touch with Bridge For Change, an NGO startup which
improves career ambitions of Tanzanian children, as an external consultant. I am immensely grateful to
the Arthur Shercliff Travel Scholarship awarded by the Cambridge University Engineering Department
and the Sir Peter Ringrose Travel Scholarship awarded by the Pembroke College for funding my travels.