2019 Bridges to Prosperity: Serugeme Footbridge
The second TT Gives Back international service trip came to a triumphant end this summer with a completed footbridge in Serugeme, Rwanda.
As part of our TT Gives Back international service program, for a second year in a row Thornton Tomasetti partnered with Bridges to Prosperity, the nonprofit organization that helps improve access to healthcare, education and economic opportunities by building footbridges in isolated communities. In July 2019, a team of 10 Thornton Tomasetti professionals from 10 offices and three continents met in the Ruhango district in Southern Province, Rwanda, to construct a 285-foot-long (87-meter) footbridge across the Mwogo River. For most of the year due to flooding, the river was too dangerous to cross, cutting off access to critical resources and forcing students to take an hour-and-a-half journey to a distant crossing simply to get to school.
Working with the local community in the extraordinarily scenic hills of Rwanda, our team hauled rocks, hoisted cables, bent rebar, cut wood, drilled planks and folded wire fabric to complete the footbridge, which they did in just under two weeks and ahead of schedule. The Serugeme Bridge now provides safe, year-round access for the members of the community, helping to empower them out of poverty.
Our team would like to thank Thornton Tomasetti for the opportunity, made possible through its TT Gives Back program, and Bridges to Prosperity for another great trip that made a lasting impact.