By Khulile Thwala
American students comprising of undergraduates from the University of Colorado Boulder, University of Virginia, and Penn State (Pennsylvania [Penn] State) University will soon be constructing a footbridge near the Mkhondvo River.
Through the student organisation Engineers In Action, the students have been preparing since last year for a charity effort in Eswatini in the form of a footbridge.
Through the Penn State website, the students shared how the group’s designs and labour will aid a rural community where flood seasons make a central river treacherous to pass.
The bridge, named Masongwane, will stretch across the Mkhondvo River and is being designed by a team led by construction manager Justin Tristani, junior manager Ben Wojciechowski, logistics manager Caitlin Grabowski, and cultural relations lead Lucas Lu.
Project manager Olivia Dunham shared just how dire the situation in Eswatini is in the rainy season. In dry periods, the Mkhondvo river is easy to wade through, but once the rainy season comes about, it’s a much grimmer journey.
She noted that in the last three years, at least five people had drowned in the crossing. Because of how central the Mkhondvo River is in the surrounding community, crossing it is a daily necessity for residents who must brave it to walk to their farms, church, and market.
The team of students is halfway across the world from the river, but, according to the Penn State website, it’s already working on solutions without seeing them firsthand. The local community shared rough specifications of the river length, depth, and path.
The goal is to create a low-cost, durable, and safe bridge for the people. “The community is extremely excited about the bridge project,” Dunham said.
“They are building a dirt road so that the team can better access the community and have been collecting rocks that will be necessary for the build.”
