A
Success Story of Project Completion
There
is no better feeling than getting our ‘to do projects' list shorter as another
project has been successfully completed by the Tibetan Village Project. As of
May 1, 2004, both phases of the Lungsho Bridge renovation have been finished.
The bridge is now safe and beautiful for the approximately 6000 villagers in the
Lungsho region of Tibet. Here are two translated testimonies from Tibetans who
are enjoying the new bridge.
"I
across this bridge four times a day to take my granddaughter back and forth for
schooling and I pray to you every time I pass this bridge. I am sure that two
to three hundred people who across this bridge every day also pray for you"
– a 69 year old grandmother from Chue village. She cried and bowed her head
to our project coordinator, Nyima’s feet.
"I
had to leave my horse other side of the bridge for three days last time I came
to see my son. Now both my horse and I can cross it safely. Thank you very much"
– an elder Tibetan visitor was passing by to see his son and happened to
meet Nyima.
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| The
original bridge before the repair |
The
Tibetan Village Project had adopted a hanging bridge renovation project in Lungsho,
Tibet in 2003. The original bridge which was about 600 feet long and 8 feet wide,
was built by the Chinese government after a tragic boat accident that killed twelve
people in 1986. This bridge is a central point of contact for transportation routes,
schools, clinics and shipment of goods to stores. The bridge is used by animals,
tractors, adults and school children from many different villages in the Lungsho
region. After seventeen years of heavy use, the bridge needed some repairs. Fortunately,
no people have fallen into the river but two horses recently perished as they
fell into the river below.
The
Tibetan Village Project broke the project into two phases and both phases were
coordinated by our field project coordinator, Nyima. The work of first phase included
two days of cutting wood planks by two carpenters in Lhasa and delivering the
planks along with other tools and supplies by tracker. Nyima did a great job in
coordination: it took five hours to travel to the bridge location, and another
two days of actual repairs by two carpenters, one engineer, and about forty volunteers
from neighboring villages. The second phase was completed in the last week of
April, 2004. Most of the work was related to structural repairs such as replacing
broken or missing bolts, tying-rope, and pouring concrete for re-stabilizing the
shoulder wall of the bridge. As a way of keeping costs low, most of the manual
labor was donated by the local Tibetan villagers. Thank you everyone who helped.
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| About
40 villagers came to help and this was during a tea break. |
| |
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| Where two
horses have died | After
the repair work was done |
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