The Bridge at Mbuguni

If you go east from Arusha to Usa River and turn south you will go on a very poor road for about 15 miles to where the road ends. The road gets worse as you go and towards the end there are very large potholes and you best have four wheel drive.

At the end of the road is a very small and poor village called Mbuguni. Also there is a surprisingly large school, Mbuguni Primary, with 20 classrooms and lots of students. I was told both 1200 and 1400 students attend the school, so I'm not sure which is correct, In addition there is a Catholic school nearby and a very special 90 acre tract of land that will some day soon be the location of STEMM's orphanage.

I was told that the children walk very long distances to go to and from school each day, and I believe it, because the nearby Mbuguni villiage is certainly not large enough to have even a small percentage of the students who attend the school. As the children approach the school there is a creek which they must cross and I understand there was a very small bridge that was in such poor condition it could not be used. Therefore the children AND the teachers had to wade the creek.

Two problems: the creek is polluted and in the rainy season it floods to the extent that the flow of water could endanger the children's safety.

Wilson and Gayle Stroscheim noticed the problem when they visited the school to present HIV teaching and the idea of STEMM building a bridge was born.

Wilson arranged for some preliminary work to be done before we arrived. The men of Mbuguni diverted the creek around the location of the bridge site, so that where we built the bridge was dry. We thought we were going to build the bridge ourselves, but the project was so important to the village that the men of Mbuguni, perhaps some 25 or more of them, plus a couple women, pitched in and we found ourselves both watching and working as the locals were eager to do the digging, the forming, carrying rocks, and mixing concrete along with our team members.

Richard Hildebrand was the star of the show. He created the plans for the bridge in his mind, drew the plans so that everyone could understand and visualize the end result and he took charge! His drawings "bridged" (I coundn't pass that up) the language barrier so that the Mbuguni people could see what had to be done as well as we could.

It was neccesary to dig down to provide a base of large rocks and concrete, placed the culverts that allowed for the flow of water through the structure, prepared the forms to receive the concrete while others mixed the concrete. We had a "fire brigade" line of people to pass the concrete in "bowls" from where it was mixed to where it was needed and another line to return the bowls to be filled and passed again. Everyone chipped in to help. It was a very significant demonstration of diverse peoples cooperating on a project that was important to all. The intense sun and the 100+ temps did'nt slow these folks down at all.

The finished bridge is 12 feet wide, can support a vehicle to cross over it, and the stream has been returned to its original path and is flowing throught the culverts. When we left, the approaches on each side had yet to be filled in by the villagers and that has been completed as well. I understand that the approaches are somewhat steep and the folks intend to add more dirt so that the approaches on both sides extend out farther from the bridge so as not to be so steep.

The total cost of material paid for by STEMM was only $1000 USD. Not only did we solve a problem that was of great concern to the locals, but we will have their support in the future as we build the STEMM orphanage just across the road. As we left we took the time to get in a big circle, hold hands and pray, but we also heard a few speaches and what one Mbuguni man said was particular moving. He said, and this does not quote him exactly, "We were impressed that you would buy the materials for the bridge, but we were REALLY impressed by your willingness to joins us in actually doing the work! We cannot thank you enough!"

One more thing that they expressed that amazed them: That we would build their bridge before we built our own structures for the orphage. They must have assumed that we would tend to our own projects first.

In God's Love, Doug wiley