Bridge building in the slums

Nolan, Jonathan and I helped YWAM build a bridge in the poor slum area. The community is built about a foot above water on a wet-land type of area. We built this bridge because there are a few women who host a bible study back here and people were having a hard time getting there. When we got there, the old bridge was almost deteriorated, it was made of wood and parts of it were in the water, it was way past due to be fixed. Can you imagine trying to step very carefully over trash ridden (probably disease infested) swamp water everytime you come and go from your home? I didn't get a before picture (it was raining almost the whole time), but got these pictures of the finished product.

We began by destroying the old wood parts and taking 3-4 foot cylinders and pounding them into the swamp water for a base. We then cemented a short 2x1 foot piece of concrete onto two of these cylinders. we then proceeded to lay down large slabs of concrete (which you can see, they are about 1.5'x7') on top of the base. They were super heavy and it was a tricky job...but it ended in success, we were really glad to had the opportunity to help. Nolan and Jonathan were the slamming masters (they took the slammer and pounded most of the concrete cylinders into the swamp).


This is a closeup of the bridge

This was the cutest little girl. She is enjoying the new bridge, afterward she and all the other kids wanted us to throw them in the air...so natually, we did.

Finished Bridge

Another photo from the coffee roaster.