Chainlink Found!

Good News! I searched the compound again to see if any chainlink fence had been put anywhere by mistake and I just found scraps. Not enough. I did what I should have done in the first place and prayed that somehow God would make chainlink appear or stretch out of nowhere. It wouldn't be the first time he made something like this happen. I know he could do it with fish and bread, why not chainlink? He answered in a different way however. Two men showed up and said they were looking for the bridge builder. I accepted this flattering term and they then explained they had brought some wire down from the north. I had ordered some straight wire that could help give the chainlink some stability so I said I would come to the market and collect it. When I arrived at the market, I found 12 rolls of chainlink fence in the man's trailer! He had somehow misunderstood me (probably my poor Arabic) when I asked for wire and had brought chain link instead. Not bad. It turns out we don't need the wire and we do need the chain link. Thank you God!

The GAP!

I found out today that we did not get enough chain link fence. I thought I ordered 170 meters, plenty to cover the 74 meter span, but I guess I was wrong. I went to a neighboring organization, GOAL, to see if I could borrow some but they didn't have any. I am not sure what I am going to do. The roads have almost completely closed to the northern towns so I might be able to get an order in real quick.

Bending Top Posts

We bent the pieces of rebar that connect the bottom cable, the cross beam and the top cable together. It was a challenge and we didn't do a very good job. Perhaps some suggestions from any rebar bending gurus out there.

Wood Decking Finished!

I am thrilled to say that Yabus now has a crossable bridge. It is none too soon either. I woke up this morning to find the river was swollen from the rains in the night. Students coming to our primary and secondary school bravely crossed the unfinished sections this morning and when they returned home in the afternoon they found the wood decking finished. The six guys working with me are excellent and I have enjoyed the enthusiasm they have for doing the work well.

My boys were excited to try out the new bridge and especially enjoyed the small bounce the bridge has. The fencing has not been put on the sides yet so I kept them close.

It is also fun to see people cross for the first time. The children have especially taken well to traveling 20 feet in the air. Here is Canberra, fellow missionary, crossing for the first time with several children.

A picture from the South side including the ramp and finished deck

Deck Work Begun

After a year of anticipating wood decking over the Yabus river, it finally has become a reality. We laid about 20 feet of wood decking today and I couldn't be happier. I look forward to another full day of laying decking tomorrow. We are getting a crowd of people now when we work. For a long time they have been asking me what the bridge will look like. I have tried to explain but it never really comes across clearly. The big concern I always hear is that they are afraid of falling off the bridge. I will try my best to keep that from happening. As you can see the boards are pressed tightly together to make it as safe as possible.

Finish of the Southside Approach

We finished off the south side approach today which means the cement work is basically done. We decided to make the entrance come from the side since coming from the back would take a lot of blocks, cement, and broken rock to fill. It gives it a unique feature.

Epic day

It was a great but long day as we poured the cap on the approach of the North side. The guys did a great job and we patiently hand mixed 24 bags of cement with hand collected rock, hand shoveled sand, and hand drawn water. Getting the picture? It takes a ton of work to build by hand here. I can't wait to walk on this thing.

Back to Work

Phil and his family left about a month ago and we went with them to rest in Nairobi. It was a good time thanking God for the work that was accomplished during Phil's time in Sudan. He is now off in Uganda. Now it is back to work. I arrived back a couple weeks ago and have been working hard on filling the approaches with broken rock. Here are some pictures filling the first approach on the North side of the river.

This last picture shows that we are have almost completely filled the approach with rock and sand. It should only be a matter of days and we'll put cement.