Early next day we loaded up again and headed further West to the Sand
River close to the Tanzanian border.
This was scheduled to be our 2nd bridge
construction, but the community had not kept their side of the bargain
by collecting sand and gravel in time. Today we would set the foundations.
Harmon has no option but to take a hard line with communities that don’t
live up to expectations, because transporting equipment to these remote
locations is a very costly business; today was their last chance.
After
a bumpy 2 hour drive we arrived. This time the anchor foundation pits
had been dug to the right depth and more than enough sand and gravel
had been collected on both sides of the river. If you have ever mixed
concrete I should explain the term gravel, because African gravel simply
means stones, and these stones were the size of large baking potatoes,
this was going to be hard work indeed!
A Maasai woman helped Harmon take
theodolight readings to check alignments and then the hard work began.
Thankfully we had help from the locals too, but it was hard graft.
After several hours mixing and pouring we were done and the foundations
looked sound. These would have to cure for a good three weeks before
the stringing process could begin.
Harmon assembled the Chief and his
community and thanked them for recovering the situation. The relief
was clearly visible on the Chief’s face when
he realised that his community were still getting the bridge they so
desperately needed. His relief turned to sheer delight when Harmon declared
that in appreciation of their efforts we were to buy them 2 goats to
celebrate. It makes for an interesting purchase in the Project Albert
account books! That evening we lit a big camp fire, drank warm beer till
about 9pm then collapsed exhausted in our tents. |
