History

How it all began

Bridges to Prosperity was founded in March 2001 when one of the founders, Ken Frantz, saw a photo taken by Nevada Wier in the National Geographic Magazine that moved him to action.

The photo to the right, showing men pulling each other across a broken bridge span, was taken on a rafting expedition down the Blue Nile in Ethiopia. The expedition was led by author, Virginia Morrell*, and photographed by Nevada Wier*.

Ken also learned that his brother Forrest Frantz, had seen the photo as well, and had the same thought! With the initial support of these family members and friends, Bridges to Prosperity was born. Fittingly, the first bridge was built over the Blue Nile in Ethiopia, one which continues to inspire a new generation of bridge builders today.

Bridges to Prosperity's Zoe Keone Pacciani and Chris Rollins later received training in Nepal from Helvetas, the "father" of the community bridge building concept. Helvetas' (based in Zurich, Switzerland) program started in earnest in Nepal in the 80's under the leadership of Robi Groeli. His program, based upon the design of bridges built in the Nepal Badlung district click here to see his original 1977 report, would lead to the local fabrication and community construction of well over 2,000 footbridges (through 2007). It is Helvetas' cable suspended design that Robi developed and manualized in Nepal that now forms the foundation of our program. To learn more about Robi's accomplishments in his own words, click here.

*Virginia Morrell has also authored a book entitled: BLUE NILE: Ethiopia's River of Magic & Mystery. It is available from your bookstore or at Amazon.com

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*Click here to see more of Nevada Wier's work.

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