stretching the first cable

It has been an exciting day. We learned a lot. Today we tried to stretch our first cable across the Yabus River by attaching it to the back of the truck and pulling it. We learned a lot about how to attach it (using a bulldog grip and chain), where to attach it (65 meter mark), and that this cable is extremely heavy. We are thrilled that it fed straight into the tubes we have buried in the deadman anchor. We hope to get pictures of that soon. Say a prayer of safety for us as we try and stretch the four cables across tomorrow.

Here is Phil getting the cables in position to be pulled.

Deadmen Done and Endless Masonry

Way to go, Bethany, for posting! This is Phil now, adding to what Bethany has already said.

Last week we cast the second of the two soil anchors (deadmen)! While we wait for the concrete to cure (1 week) before stringing up the cables, we are focusing on the masonry approaches (ramps) on each side of the river and have a small crew working on fabricating the wood and steel deck pieces. It is getting very exciting here. Hopefully within a week we'll have some cables hanging across the river! We'll be sure to post a lot of pictures then.

For now, here are two pictures, before and during the casting the second soil anchor. What an exhausting day! Our crew worked without stopping from 8 am until 5 pm to get it done, and then God blessed us that night with a nice rain to help the concrete cure. It is painful to water this amount of curing concrete by hauling one 20 Liter jerry can at a time from the river. Whew!

Progress at Unity Bridge

I confess this is Bethany, Eli's wife, writing the bridge update this week. Eli and Phil have been working so hard and making such great progress this week that I wanted to be sure to share the news with those of you who check up on the progress and pray for this project.
Forgive me since I don't know all the correct lingo. This has been a critical week. The stubborn rock that's been giving them so much pain, finally came out enough to the point that they could put the deadman anchor in on that side. What victory! Last week our whole SIM Yabus team gathered at the rock to pray for God to remove it in His time. What a joy to see Him do it so soon. Just when Eli and Phil will starting to wonder if it would ever come out.
So today they poured the concrete for the second deadman anchor. All it needs is a week to set and they'll be ready to stretch the cables across the water! That will be another great day for taking pictures and letting you know of more progress.
It's still amazing to me that this bridge is becoming a reality. All I can say is: God is AWESOME! He does what He wants His way. Eli and I never would have dreamed we'd be building a bridge of all things, when we first arrived in Sudan. It's been a stretching and rewarding journey.

Setbacks and Hope for Success

Bridge construction has slowed to a crawl, but we have hopes to pick up speed this Monday.

When one of the bridge's sponsors was asked to leave the country, we were left without funding for the laborers' wages. The World Food Programme offered a food-for-work deal that seemed great to us but was not well received by the laborers. For the past two weeks, as we've been discussing various options, we have hired a small group of the secondary students at SBNA (South Blue Nile Academy, run by SIM) to help us out in the afternoons, once classes are out. This has been a great opportunity to teach and interact with the students, and we have spent quite a bit of time collecting materials (sand and rock) for the reinforced concrete soil anchor.

We just received word that there are some funds now available for laborers' wages (praise the Lord!), so we have invited folks to show up for work this Monday. Here is a picture of the first cable we were able to hoist into place over the threshold of the tower.

If at first you don't succeed....

When the bridge workers suggested that we try and burn the stone again, I had my doubts. We had done this twice before and had made little progress. “However, this time might be different,” they persuaded me. I changed one thing from how we had burned the rock before. Instead of using diesel, I used some old truck oil. Apparently oil is the secret. Look at these pictures and celebrate with me the removal of some large chunks of stone. We need to remove this stone so that we can anchor the cables low in the ground.

Pouring old truck oil on the rock and spreading it around with tree branches

The rock is now "painted" in oil so we load the wood we collected in the forest.

This was an impressively hot fire. Even though I was so far away, I found it difficult to take this picture.

A crack! We used our small metal chisels to open the crack and then some large wooden "chisels" to further open the crack. It was a great relief to see this large chunk of stone come out. Phil Greene, our engineer, is coming in one week and I hope'd to have the rock completely out by the time of his arrival. We shall see.

Greene Family Heading Out

We are the Greene family - Phil, Emily, Jonathan and Evelyn - and we begin our journey to Yabus next week! We arrive on March 14th, and will oversee the installation of the cable. Check out this Foundation Construction Drawing for a depiction of how this bridge comes together. Please pray that all the logistics come together on schedule, that nobody gets hurt, and that we can open the bridge for traffic before the rains hit!

Good News and Bad News

We have been able to remove much of the softer stone in front of our granite problem but have dug down and found another slice of granite. Wow, the sound the sledge hammer makes when we hit it! It is a high pitched ding, almost like hitting metal. We are searching around to try and find a chink in the armor of this stone and hopefully remove it piece by piece.