Story4

From Rpcvdraft

Revision as of 23:34, 6 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.