HEALTH AND SANITATION
29
Rwandan plumber forms
organisation following
scholarship visit to US
By Mike Flenniken
A Rwandan plumber who received the inaugural scholarship
from the World Plumbing Council and United Association for
training instructors in developing nations is setting an example
for future beneficiaries to follow.
Jean Claude Twagirimana, the recipient of the
World Plumbing Council United Association
Instructor Training Programme Scholarship
for Trainers from Developing Countries, took
what he learned from his two-week visit to the
United States last summer and helped start the
Rwanda Plumbers Organisation.
Now a confirmed member of the WPC, the RPO’s goals
are to promote advanced education and training in
plumbing through the development of a plumbing code,
training curriculum and capacity building for plumbers
and water users on water use efficiency.
“Plumbing conditions in my village of birth are not
good because there are some people who do not yet
have good drinking water and they are still using raw
water from rivers and lakes to drink,” he says. “In the
village where I live, piping is there, but some days
there is no water in some areas.”
WPC deputy chairman, Thomas Bigley, the Director
of Plumbing Services for the UA, met Twagirimana at
Dulles Airport in Virginia. During his first full day, which
was spent touring Washington, D.C., Twagirimana
met UA General President Mark McManus. They also
The following article looks
at a Rwandan plumber
who won an instructor
training scholarship and
visited the United States
to learn more about
training instructors in his
home country. Written by
IAPMO Staff Writer, Mike
Flenniken, it is the next in
a regular series of similar
articles that will run in
Plumbing Africa.
Russ Chaney, IAPMO CEO
"After coming back to
my country from the
USA, I got inspired by
how plumbing is a very
big industry with a lot of
opportunities."
November 2019 Volume 25 I Number 9
Twagirimana, 35, grew up in a village where residents
fetched water from a river. After studying public works
in high school, he continued his studies in water
technology and environmental management at Rwanda
Polytechnic. Upon graduation, he went to work as a
plumber for the National University of Rwanda. His
interest in plumbing stems from the desire to help
develop a system for treating and managing water
resources.
Jean Claude Twagirimana, centre, with WPC Deputy Chair Thomas Bigley, left, and WPC
Chair Shayne La Combre.
www.plumbingafrica.co.za