Our D-Lab experience in Uganda
In March 2025, students from the MIT D-Lab Humanitarian Innovation class traveled to Arua, Uganda with D-Lab Founding Director Amy Smith and Lecturer Martha Thompson to participate in a Co-Creation Summit alongside community members from Imvepi and Rhino refugee settlements. D-Lab students were paired with local innovators who were working on technical solutions to challenges facing their communities.
Our project focused on the development and refinement of a manual water pump using local materials. The team in Uganda – Isaac, Carol, Cosmas, Philip, Amos, Ruta, and Sunday – had already designed and built a treadle pump but were searching for ways to improve its efficiency. We shared a water pump model we found at D-Lab, and the team expertly discovered how it worked and how to build a new one.
We realized that, in the process of building the physical water pump, we were also building something less tangible, but equally important: community. Our participation in the Co-Creation Summit taught us that “building” something is more than just a technological practice that yields a physical product. “To build" is to bring individual components together to form a cohesive whole – whether pieces of wood and aluminum to make a pump, or people and their passions to form a team.
Meet the D-Lab team
- Tarek Meah, a first-year PhD student in MIT’s graduate program in History, Anthropology, and Science, Technology & Society (HASTS)
- Xiaotan Alex Yang, a third-year Master of Architecture student at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design (GSD)
On “building”
We both received previous degrees from the Bartlett Faculty of the Built Environment (University College London), where we were taught that “building” is a technological practice that ends in a physical product. However, our participation in the Co-Creation Summit made us realize that “building” something does not necessarily require physical tools, nor does the process have to end in something tangible. We can also “build” teams, “build” friendships, and “build” community. We applied an anthropological lens to this notion of “building” to better understand our impact in the co-creation process.
IWI Paa!
Before we got to work, we introduced ourselves to our teammates, and they did the same. We talked about our backgrounds, our interests, and our goals for the Co-Creation Summit. As part of the icebreaker activities, we came up with a team name and a jingle. Isaac, a farmer from South Sudan who had been living in Uganda for most of his life, suggested that we call ourselves “International Water-pump Innovators,” or IWI. Philip, a youth activist, suggested we include the term “paa,” which is how Luo speakers verbalize the sound of flowing water. So, our song became:
IWI, IWI, Paa! [clap]
IWI, IWI, Paa! [clap]
Paa! [clap], Paa! [clap]
We didn’t know it at the time, but the song/clapping ritual would form – and still forms – an important part of the building process.
An alien object in Arua
On the second day of the co-creation summit, we presented the water pump (that we found at D-Lab) to the team. The device, which Alex referred to as “alien object,” looked unlike anything they’ve seen before; this unfamiliarity soon dissipated as we began to demonstrate how to use it.
We stepped onto the wooden platform and rocked from side to side as water slowly entered the input hose and exited through the output hose. Carol, a community leader from Imvepi, commented, “I think this works similar to ours,” referencing the existing treadle pump. She noted that the required bodily movements – going from side to side, pressing down on the right side of the board, then the left – reminded her of how one operates the treadle pump: by pushing down on the right pedal and then the left.
Following the demonstration, we took the water pump apart. We detached the wooden board from the diaphragm and got a closer look at the inside of the device. After a minute or two of intense examination, the clamoring started.
“This is just how our pump works,” Carol said.
“The water goes in from here and goes out from there,” Amos remarked.
“We can make this easily,” Isaac added.
We spent the next hour discussing the materials we needed, how we could replicate the pump, sketched the components and their assembly, and discussed similarities between the D-Lab pump and the existing treadle pump. We then began to reassemble the pump. We had successfully taken it apart and identified how it worked, but the new challenge was making sure it still worked. We held our breath as Isaac got back on the wooden board.
He began pressing down on each side, and, finally, the moment of truth: water forcefully exited the output hose. We broke out into laughter and cheer, and Alex led us into celebration, singing our team’s jingle: IWI, IWI, Paa! IWI, IWI Paa! Paa! Paa!
Building
Throughout the week, whenever our team accomplished one of our goals, we would break into cheer and perform our “IWI Paa!” ritual. At one point, we performed a demonstration of the pump (and our jingle) for a representative from a German NGO. Afterwards, we noticed her singing the song while she was taking our photo. We also performed our jingle during demonstrations for the farmers at Imvepi and Rhino camps. Each time, the farmers laughed and excitedly joined us, eager to use the pump. This led Alex to comment, “perhaps the performativity of the pump is more important than its performance.”
We noticed that, in the process of building the pump, we were also building close relationships with our teammates; the jingle was just one way for us to share our excitement and to further build on our team dynamic. Weeks later, despite the physical distance between our team in the U.S. and our team in Uganda, we’re still committed to ensuring the success of this project.
Because we’re not only building a water pump; we’re also building community.
About the authors
Tarek Meah is a first-year PhD student in MIT’s History, Anthropology and STS (HASTS) program.
Xiaotan Alex Yang is a third-year graduate student at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, Architecture program.
Related
Co-Creation is a circle, not a line: lessons in listening, building, and belonging in Uganda
Finding inspiration from co-creating in Arua, Uganda
More information
MIT D-Lab Humanitarian Innovation class