Bridges to Prosperity hired local villagers to work on various aspects of the construction project, distributing the work equally between villages. All of this was coordinated by another key volunteer, Zoe Keone. She served as photographer, videographer, payroll master, menu coordinator, and dispute resolution manager, along with many other tasks.

Keone also oversaw the start-up and operation of a free medical clinic staffed by an Ethiopian doctor and a nurse originally hired to handle construction injuries. During construction, the clinic treated 1,000 people from nearby villages, with the waiting line at times growing to more than 500.

The bulk of the bridge repair involved masonry work, followed by assembly of the bridge, which was pulled manually by ropes into place over the broken section. The entire project, scheduled to take two weeks, was completed in 10 days.

Once the bridge was finished, Frantz held an inauguration ceremony that drew 1,000 people who celebrated the moment with dances, singing, and speeches. In a touching display of affection, villagers brought him gifts of eggs—a precious commodity in a land where many suffer from malnutrition.



Ken Frantz thanks a little girl for a gift of eggs she has brought for the Ferenji, the foreigners.

Frantz originally estimated that reopening the bridge would increase trade in the region from $300,000 per year to $3 million annually. He now believes that total is likely to be much greater. Such economic benefit is at the heart of the Bridges to Prosperity mission statement, which reads, in part: "We believe improved access to markets brings about more trade, and more trade improves economic prosperity."

As the construction party hiked out of the area, Frantz noted some interesting traffic moving in the opposite direction: Porters carrying sheet metal headed for villages across the bridge to modernize old grass huts, and a large caravan of mules loaded with goods to be sold on the other side.

This is the true story of the bridge, Frantz said—the resulting increase in trade between villages and the economic benefit for people who so desperately needed to transport their goods easily from one place to another.

Many people want to aid poor countries and are often moved by images of starving children, Frantz added. But Bridges to Prosperity is "doing something that has long-lasting benefit for those starving children, that allows them to help themselves inside their own country."

Bridges to Prosperity has completed three other small pedestrian bridge projects, including two in Nepal and one in Indonesia. A second Ethiopian bridge, across another portion of the Blue Nile River, is in the design stage.

And to come full circle on the magazine photo that started it all, National Geographic featured Frantz's work to repair the Second Portuguese Bridge in its October 2002 issue.

Teresa Wippel is a Seattle free lance writer. Zoe Keone is a professional photographer based in Gig Harbor Washington. For more information on Bridges to Prosperity, see www.bridgestoprosperity.org.