Jungle Bridge

We were in this area over a month ago to visit a village about a water project. While in the area we dropped by a nearby private school to speak to the founder of the school who had requested some humanitarian help. The bridge leading to the community where her school was located had been washed away and the remaining footbridge was so bad that it was dangerous for pedestrians and motorcycles to cross. Because of that attendance at her school had dropped significantly. She asked if we could fix the bridge. We turn down the project but it was picked up by some of the school founders ward members that live in America. They were interested in contributing.  I put the founders in connection with a trusted local contractor and he built this footbridge.

Even though we we're only slightly involved they invited us to the bridge dedication.

It is national election season and so all of the politicians in the area showed up for the dedication of this little footbridge. Speeches lasted for well over an hour. We were told it started at 1:00. We showed up at 1:00 and then we were told that 1:00 is African time which means 2:00. We didn't end up leaving until about 4:00. It was hot.

I was asked to say a few words at the dedication. To our surprise they requested that Cheryl be the one who cut the ribbon. The words she says as she cuts the ribbon is the name of the bridge that the community decided on.

A major problem with this footbridge is that the contractor made it too wide and cars can travel on it. It's not made for cars. It's not going to last very long unless they put up some type of barrier or take out some of the planks in the bridge. We'll see if they're able to do that.

A lot of young adults go on missions. In this small Branch they have three that are preparing to leave. The taller young man is Alvin who is 23 and the shorter one is Samson who is 24. They have taken care of all of their pre-mission requirements except raising the final $40 to pay for their passports. They are trying. The past teaching assistant job they had to earn their other mission expense money is no longer available. The church requires them to raise the money themselves. They talked to me about it, hoping that I would give them the money, but we cannot. There are so many needs here that once we start giving money out of our own pocket we would be the most popular people in the area.

The man in the pictures name is Moses Slemie. He got us and an appointment with the assistant minister of health. We had a great meeting with him. We decided to explore helping them obtain basic medical supplies and furniture for two of their rural hospitals.

The mission had a conference for the sister missionaries. To help with the conference they invited all of the senior missionary sisters to assist. Here they were teaching them how to make bread. Some of them come from environments lacking basic experiences and training. Almost all of the sister missionaries here are from African countries.

Since all the couples were gathered here for the sisters conference the mission president, on the left, decided to have a senior Mission couple dinner and entertainment night. Cheryl and I are the only humanitarian missionaries here and we don't have to wear white shirts.

Unfortunately, during our evening together the couple on the right, the McLaughlin's, got a report that their house was broken into. They live in one of the more rural small towns. The burglars were able to make it over their compound wall and entered into their home by peeling up the metal roof and then breaking through the ceiling. They lost their computer some cash and a bunch of other small items. They were pretty traumatized.

We fortunately are pretty safe here in our apartment. We are on the third floor and have a front door that looks like a vault door. We have at least two full-time guards on the premises.

The McLaughlin's stayed in our spare bedroom. We took them to our beach. This is about as far as we wanted to go in.  You can't tell from this picture but the surf was real treacherous.