Bridges to Prosperity
By Amanda Murphy-Ishikawa, WTS-DC
July 2023
The more I immerse myself in the transportation industry, the more I fall in love. My path to transportation was not the most intentional. It fell into my lap via a random request on LinkedIn, asking if I would be interested in joining the consultancy team on the California High-Speed Rail Program. And I have never looked back. As a business analyst, the work I do is often more removed from the tangible impact of the industry itself. I don’t design railways or analyze traffic patterns. I’m a business analyst and help transit organizations realize process efficiencies through lean and/or IT implementations. However, last November I had the unique opportunity to travel abroad and work hands-on building a bridge in Rwanda. It was quite possibly the best experience of my life.
My organization, WSP, is a corporate sponsor of Bridges to Prosperity (B2P), a nonprofit organization that partners with local governments to connect rural communities in disadvantaged parts of the world via pedestrian bridges. This last mile connectivity is life changing in the areas the program serves, ensuring entire communities have year-round access to education, healthcare, and economic opportunity. These footbridges eliminate the temptation for community members to risk their lives crossing treacherous waters to get to school or sell goods to bring in money for their family. Lives are saved and entire communities are elevated, just through safe access.
Through this partnership, WSP and other corporate sponsors fund 60% of a bridge’s cost, with the local government paying for the other 40%. Additionally, corporate teams are sent over from the sponsoring organization to work side by side with community members to complete construction of the bridge. This past November I was lucky to have been chosen as the Logistics Lead for our Hankia Bridge construction team. With the help of 40 local villagers, we constructed a 98m long steel suspension bridge over the span of 11 days with only basic hand tools on the side of a mountain. This new bridge now provides year-round access for a population of 4,970 people between the villages of Hanika and Nyagasozi in Rwanda. During the rainy season, waters rise and most people have to turn back. As a result, children don't attend school and families are cut off from markets that ensure their livelihood. Churches and medical care also become inaccessible.
Admittedly, I was a little nervous in the days leading up to the trip. This would be my first time in Africa and since we were working in a remote village, our accommodations were simple. Awaiting us in Rwanda was a house with no running water, outdoor toilets, mosquitos carrying malaria and yellow fever, and, not to mention, my first time ever working on a bridge or even on a construction site (did I mention I’m a business analyst?!). I had no idea what to expect.
Our team flew into Kigali from all over the United States – from Seattle to Dallas to DC, we had all the geographies covered. We made it without issue, despite B2P staff warning us that a lot of checked bags get lost, and us deciding to risk it anyway. Our bridge engineers brought bags of gear to help with construction and not a single thing went missing. As for me, my PPE made it in one piece, and my newly permethrin-coated sleeping bag, sleeping pad, and clothing arrived ready to protect me from mosquitoes.
Our job site was a couple hours from the capital city of Kigali. We took safari trucks and got our first “African massage” as we descended into the valley where our job site would be. While main roads in Rwanda are paved, the roads within the small villages are very bumpy and uneven, providing a free full-body massage in transit. As we drove to the site, everyone on the side of the road seemed to stare. From an American perspective, where everyone avoids eye contact, it was odd to be looked at so unapologetically. They don’t feign smiles either, the way we tend to back here. If you wave, they wave back. If they’re happy, they’ll smile. But otherwise, they’re just looking as they go about their day. There was something really authentic about it all.
As we got closer to the job site, anticipation built. We realized that we were now among the people who our project would serve, and they all recognized why we were there. A big crowd gathered as we parked the cars and unloaded our luggage into the village house that would be our home for the next two weeks. Their presence in large numbers and curious looks indicated to us that they were perhaps just as excited as we were.
The house we stayed in was nicer than expected. While the walls were bare and the entire home was concrete from floor to ceiling, there was fairly consistent electricity and decent cell service. Basic cots were provided in each of the rooms with mosquito nets hanging overhead. There were a few couches for us to have our dinners and meetings at and rooms for our toilet and bucket showers outside in the back.
Anxious to see our worksite, we dumped our bags and started the half mile hike down into the valley that would become our daily commute. As we slowly traversed the trail down the mountainside, the villagers ran past us, elegant as gazelles, down the trails that they knew like the back of their hands. It was our first hint that we would be spending the next two weeks trying to keep up with them during construction.
Rwanda is a beautiful country, rightfully coined “the land of a thousand hills.” It was impossible to not be taken with the landscape, with lush rolling hills in every direction. Villagers were farming around us, some with babies on their backs as they hoed the ground, others walking their cows near the river. Kids gathered to watch us, probably never having seen so many foreigners, if any. I felt like a celebrity walking to our site, everyone so excited to see us, and waving excitedly as we went by.
We walked the span of the site, noticing the temporary wooden bridge currently in place that we would use to transport goods from one side of the site to the other, and that the villagers currently used to cross the river. As the rainy season had not started yet, the water level was low and the river was easy to wade across. All our supplies were already at the site, including the materials for the bridge and the tools needed for construction. The villagers had already carried it all down the steep trail we used to get to the site. The bridge abutments, the structures at the ends of the bridge that hold the load and anchor the bridge to the embankments, was started by the villagers before we arrived. Our WSP Project Manager (PM) informed us that tomorrow we would start drawing out the cables that would become the supports for the walkway and railings. The cables would extendacross the bridge area and anchor into the back of the abutments.
As we trekked back up to our house, we were full of excitement. Nerves settled now that the unknown elements were confirmed, and excitement to start took its place. The cook from B2P made us an excellent, hearty dinner, and we went to bed surrounded by mosquito nets, dreaming of the days to come.
The team started laying decking from each side of the bridge. Here, the two teams meet in the middle to lay the final panels.
Construction occurred over the next 10 days. Though we were given two weeks, our group was competitive and wanted to be as efficient as possible. On the first day, when we arrived at the site, the 40 villagers who would be working with us were already there, and we vowed never to be the late arrivals again. All 50 of us got into a big circle, made introductions, stretched, and had a safety moment before briefing on the day’s activities. The Rwandans were used to starting their days differently, chanting and dancing as a group, and showed us the ropes as we joined in. They were full of energy and though they did not all speak the best English (and we spoke next to no Kinyarwanda), we managed to find ways to communicate effectively. Our PM would tell the rest of the WSP volunteers the plan for the day, the B2P Project Liaison would help translate the plans, and throughout the day the WSP staff would break into smaller groups with the villagers, to help provide direction on the specifics of various tasks. These tasks included assembling floor beams, tightening bolts on the decking, or stretching fencing. While we provided direction, it was the tireless work of the villagers that got the job done so quickly. Never in my life have I seen such strong, tireless work ethic. The bridge truly was theirs from the start and through the end. We were just there to provide some direction and jump in where we could.
Community members mixing by hand for the surface of the abutments.
The best part about this project was the opportunity to work and live alongside the local community members. The connections we forged and memories we built together will be cherished for years to come. Our project could not have been done without them and it was exciting to see how invested they were in getting the bridge built. Involved in every single aspect of the build, they took ownership of the project, learned the building process from the ground up, and became well-equipped to take over maintenance of the bridge in the coming years. By the end of the build, we had chanted and danced together in the rain, carried rocks Rwandan-style on our heads, and learned about the past tragedies that would be prevented upon completion of our bridge. While our ability to speak to each other was limited, there was no denying the bonds we formed while on site.
Our last day in the village we took the morning to visit a local school. The students gave us the warmest welcome we could have gotten, showering us with handmade gifts, performing acrobatics, and dancing as a group. They talked about what the bridge means to them and how it will change their lives. It was the most heartwarming feeling to realize that the work we were doing meant so much to this entire community. But the conversation moved beyond just safety in mobility. A young girl came up to the front of the group of students and with a hint of a smile on her face said “I was happy to see girls working on the bridge because I thought this was not a job for girls. Now I want to be a bridge engineer.” It warmed my heart to hear her words. On top of all the inherent benefits of the project, helping inspire a new generation of female engineers in a field that is historically male-dominated was such an incredible feeling. We all cheered, calling out, “You can do it! Keep studying!”
For the rest of inauguration day, we shared our final moments of celebration with the community before heading back to Kigali, hearts full. As our trucks headed back to the city, our phones suddenly lit up. Our Project Liaison, Aline, had sent an update from the site. A mere two hours after inauguration, as we were driving away, a flash flood swept down the river. It took out the community’s temporary wooden footbridge, waters raging through the area that had been only a small stream hours before. The rainy season had arrived. Our bridge was completed in the exact moment that it was needed most. The local school children, who we visited that morning, would use our bridge to get home safely from school. Lives were potentially saved the very first day our bridge was in service. This unexpected event further proves the need for this type of critical infrastructure throughout Rwanda and other African nations.
Since completion, the Haika trailbridge generated approximately $162,000 in new annual income for the communities served due to increased farm profits. 1,839 more children now have safe access to school. 516 more women have access to attended births and women have more opportunity to enter the labor market. The Hanika trailbridge will have a lasting impact on the surrounding communities for the decades to come.
Transportation is a powerful tool for equity in the modern world. Throughout Africa, populations are disadvantaged due to lack of access to basic services like education, medical care, and markets. During the rainy season, entire communities in Rwanda are cut off from essential resources. Consequently, economic mobility is stifled. The construction of the Hanika suspension bridge ensures this will no longer be a barrier for opportunity in the communities served. Through WSP’s ongoing partnership with Bridges to Prosperity, we are improving mobility and safety for under-served rural communities in Africa, ensuring that safe access is a basic human right.
Working in Rwanda was one of the most immersive and incredible experiences of my life. The connections and impact made go beyond the bridge for everyone involved, and I’m grateful to have been a part of it.