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Until recently, more than 4,500 people in the rural Muhanga District of Rwanda鈥檚 southern province lacked safe passage to schools, health care, jobs and family members during the rainy season because of frequent Nyagako River flooding. In just the past three years, three people have died trying to traverse the river, including a woman two months before she was to wed.

Bridges to Prosperity, a Denver-based nonprofit, knows of such perils. It has spearheaded more than 100 efforts to address dangerous crossings in Rwanda. Recently, it partnered with Portland-based Fortis Construction to build the 280-foot-long Rwabagenzi suspension trail bridge across the Nyagako River.

Fortis鈥� 11-person team included President Tim Sissel, superintendents, and project managers as well as people involved in preconstruction, risk management, accounting, and marketing.

It was Fortis鈥� first bridge project.

鈥淲e (build) a lot of buildings,鈥� project manager Katie Hunter said. 鈥淲e don鈥檛 build many bridges.鈥�

Two months before the Fortis team arrived, community members in the region constructed concrete foundations for two towers 鈥� one on each side of the river. They also transported steel structures and materials to the site.

Leading up to the trip, Fortis鈥� superintendents studied the suspension bridge plans and a safety lead discussed details with the team. All team members also received harness training and safety classes.

The Fortis team arrived in Rwanda in mid-April, near the end of the rainy season 鈥� when the river can become 8 to 10 feet deep. The river was low enough at that time, however, that it could be traversed, Fortis controller Bryce Yamamoto said.

Over two weeks, team members erected the towers 鈥� each roughly 35 feet tall 鈥� and then strung cables across the river and attached the walking planks. All work was performed without large machines because they couldn鈥檛 reach the project site.

A group of about 25 people 鈥� Fortis crew members and community members 鈥� worked together to walk the cables across the river. Each cable was about an inch and a half in diameter and was hoisted to the top of each tower by a hand-cranked winch. Four people were needed to operate each winch 鈥� except for one, which was operated solely by a superintendent with 鈥�20-inch biceps,鈥� Yamamoto said.

To get to the site, the Fortis crew trekked about 1.5 miles from where the road ended, and down a steep hill. Sometimes, after rain, that distance was even farther because the road couldn鈥檛 be used by vehicles. By the end of the trip, one team member had lost 14 pounds and another had lost 10 pounds, Fortis Marketing Manager Shane Kucera said.

鈥淭hat speaks to the amount of work that was happening every day,鈥� he said.

Most of the project materials 鈥� including cables, rebar and clamps 鈥� were donated to Bridges to Prosperity. The walking planks were made from materials in Rwanda, so community members will be able to easily perform maintenance and replace them, if necessary. Wood was not used because it would not last in the wet, humid climate.

Other materials were sourced locally and 鈥渨ell-loved,鈥� Hunter said. The scaffolding that needed to be erected to raise the towers were made of various pieces that did not really go together. On one side of the river, the structure had to be assembled and disassembled three times before it was safely usable.

鈥淏y the time you鈥檇 reach a certain level of the scaffolding you鈥檇 realize 鈥榶ou know what, it鈥檚 not standing up very straight,鈥欌�� Hunter said. 鈥淚t was cockeyed, or it was leaning too far away, and it was because the materials that we were working with are just not what we鈥檙e used to here in the states.鈥�

For a similar project in the U.S., many of the pieces would be prefabricated, according to Hunter. The clips would be on the cable and the rebar would be bent and ready for installation. Instead, most of that work was done on the jobsite with hand tools. Several attempts were needed to bend the rebar just right, she said, so it could hang from the suspension cable and support the walking plank at the bottom properly.

Ultimately, the project team completed the suspension bridge on time. On the final day, community members walked across it.

鈥淭hat was big,鈥� Kucera said, 鈥渢hat it was finished, and we didn鈥檛 leave without getting the bridge done.鈥�

And Fortis鈥� team members returned home fulfilled, according to Sissel.

鈥淭he experience cast a bright light on how powerful and impactful it can be to serve communities such as Muhanga, whom are underserved, suffer from rural isolation, and lack so many of the necessities that allow for prosperity in life, which we often take for granted here in North America,鈥� he wrote in an email. 鈥淭he ability to serve others and see the immediate impact of your service was so gratifying for all 11 of us.鈥�