Story4

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Revision as of 00:17, 7 November 2007

Story 4

A rope, a speech and gets a temporary bridge built.

There are really two parts to this story. The motivational part and the doing part.

Introduction

I seem to have a lot of stories that take place in INI County Council. This was the most rural area in my Division. This area was separated somewhat from AroChuchu, the center of vast trading empire and the AroChuchu juju or slave trade. In short, I believed these people were tough and strong willed. Reaching there via 4 wheels was always exciting and rain meant a 3 or 4 mile walk.

There was a good road to a large market. There was a major river between the market and it and Itu Mbauzo. A long levee lead to an old Bailey bridge, with broken boards, that crossed one of the tributaries of the Cross River. From there the road went up some steep hills into the clan area of Itu Mbauzo. There was a market there, but traders could only come and go by bicycle.

This story is about a sometimes dry river bed that filled up in the rainy season. It was located between the Bailey bridge and the major market with the good road. At one point in time, there must have been a bridge there of some sort. There were two cement abudments that were probably close to 40 feet apart. The villagers of Itu Mbauzio put two palm trees across the gap so their women could get to the major market.

I think the Assistant Divisional Officer had come back from a visit to INI. He told me the people of Itu Mbauzo would like build a better bridge than a palm log. He arranged a meeting between me and a few of the leaders. it was clear that while a few of the leaders from the small Itu Mbauzo market, wanted a better bridge, the rest of the villages in the clan were not so willing to assist in the project. Further, there was no way that the Ministry of Works was going to build a bridge. Somebody from that arm of government, suggested that a couple of big trees could bridge the gap and there were plenty around for that purpose. But by the way, they did not have any truck or equipment that could help.

So it would have to be done by hand and that meant lots of manpower. And that would mean all the villages in the area would have to agree to send men.

The big speech

I was very doubtful that a 21 year old american boy was going to be able to convince the Clan of Itu Mbauzo if they didn't want to do it. However, I was never afraid listening and talking. I did go to 10 to 20 community meetings a month all over my division. As I drove my Mini Moke, I couldn't figure out what I was going to say. All I could really offer was the use of a long 2 inch rope from the Ministry of Works. By the time I left the good road I was fairly certain nothing was going to happen as a result of this special meeting.

The meeting house was packed. Judging by the sounds, the tenor of the group was not in favor of doing anything. Between the good road and the meeting house, I changed my mind. A year after this meeting I was in Somalia and I wrote the speech as I remembered it in my journal.

Where is the name of Itu Mbauzo ?

Insert speech.

How to build a bridge

A a group of men cut two big trees. Make sure they are big and long enough to span 40 feet or me. Drag the trees to the site along the levee road using the rope and place small logs on the path as rollers. The trees were around 5 feet at the butt and well over 3 feet at the narrow end. They were cut about 10 feet longer than the gap between the abutments. In theory, everything looking good.

An then reality set in. How do you lift one end up 6 feet to get it on the abutment? We could not get enough man power on the log to lift one end. We could only lift it so the top of the log was not even flush with the top of the abutment. The rope didn't seem to help, even if you put 50 men on it, the log pinched the abutment the harder you pulled. We spent a lot of energy and after a while the leaders were yelling at men not to leave because the day was long and there was no end in sight. We didn't have time to build a ramp, which was probably a 1/2 days effort with headpans and shovels and logs.

I kept thinking of Egypians and their big stones. Then I figured out what might work. I asked for a strong 6 foot log. Something strong enough to hold the end of the log up. So while a small group of men went off to cut a piece of iron wood, we dragged the second big log out of the swamp, up on the levee and close to the abutment. Then we took a break and women came with palm wine.

We already had the rope around the log. The iron wood stick happen to have a Y at the end. I ran the rope over the it. This stick was on top of the abutment and pointing in about a 45 degree angle towards the log. We set out the men again, some lifting and the rest on the rope which ran at right angles to the log. In 15 seconds the log was on the abutment. In another 30 minutes the second log was next to the first. Everybody was happy and very impressed with themselves.

There you have it, a speech, a rope and a bridge.