EAST CHICAGO | Valparaiso University's chapter of Engineers Without Borders reached out to students at East Chicago Central High School to raise money for and provide assistance to an African village located in the foothills of Mount Kilimanjaro.

About 140 East Chicago high school students will participate in a pen pal program with students in the village of Masaera inTanzania. Local students also will design T-shirts, gather clothes and supplies and raise money for projects in Masaera.

The Engineers Without Borders club recently completed a multiyear project in Nakor, Kenya, where the group erected windmills to power a fresh water supply for drinking water and for vegetable gardens.

VU juniors Hannah Allchin and Tim Staub and senior Alex Williams, who is president of the local chapter, said their goals are to educate, empower and help provide clean drinking water to the people in those regions.

According to the VU students, 80 percent of the diseases in developing countries are water-related. The average family in the village of Masaera has to walk 3.5 miles to get water, and it's often dirty.

"As engineers, we hope to help connect them to their water source," Williams said.

When VU student engineers go to Tanzania in March, they will provide technical assistance regarding a 70-year-old canal, teaching the people of Masaera to patch it using natural resources.

East Chicago students are fundraising to buy supplies for a new roof and provide items to schoolchildren.

High school sophomores Alec Barney, 16, and Katelyn Lipa, 15, were both inspired by the college students' message.

"They showed us that we can do something to help out," Barney said. "We can reach out to someone besides ourselves."

Added Lipa, "We've already had a bake sale to raise some money. We're planning a talent show."

As part of another project, East Chicago Central students have become pen pals with students at Nhkaba High School in Swaziland, Africa.

Teachers David Lane and David Tokarz said it's exciting to see the students taking a leadership role in both projects.

Principal Larry Allen put together a similar alliance with the Valparaiso Engineers without Borders chapter when he was principal at Boone Grove Middle School a few years ago.

"This is something you can do," Allen said. "You can go to Valparaiso University and be part of a project like this in a few years."