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Guadalupe Dos Simple Span Pedestrian Footbridge
Project # 094
Project Slide Show
Community Name: Guadalupe, Matagalpa
Bridge Sponsor: Peace Corps
Partners: Peace Corps
Volunteers: Jamie Nations, Alex Bansleben
Dedication:
Memorial:
River Name: Rio Guapinol
Bridge Name: Guadalupe Dos
Bridge Span: 10 meters
Pedestrian Footbridge Type: Simple Span
Population Served by Bridge: Approximately 2500 people
Expected Traffic: Approximately 200 per day
Bridge Story: Peace Corps volunteer Jamie Nations has been teaching in the community of Guadalupe, on the outskirts of Matagalpa, for the past year and a half. In order to reach her school, she has to cross two streams that become raging rivers in the rainy season. These same streams, when in flood, keep her students from attending class, totaling several weeks of missed school days for about half of Guadalupe's youth. In addition, these streams keep the bulk of Guadlupe's population from being able to reach the main highway, and the commercial and medical centers of San Ramon and Matagalpa. Jamie has been working on organizing the community into a work force for the past six months, and with the engineering and cooperation of the students of the University of Iowa, the first of the two bridges will be completed before the rainy season begins.
"I first arrived in Guadalupe, "says Jamie, "in November of 2009 at the end of the rainy season to begin my service as a Peace Corps Volunteer. I was immediately taken by how lush and green everything was. When I walked up to my mountain school for the first time, I realized why everything was so green. The two rivers that the community has to cross to get to the elementary school, health center, and the food bank for children, not to mention hundreds of houses, were completely flooded and rushing quickly. On either side people were waiting for the rivers to go down to cross to the other side. I quickly realized that this was a huge problem in the community not only for education of my students, but also for mothers taking their children to get fed their only meal of the day at the food bank and seniors trying to get medical attention at the one room health center. Attendance at the school drops by almost 50% during the rainy season because it is actually too dangerous for many children to attend school for fear the rivers will carry them away. This has caused many students to have to annually repeat grades and is part of the reason why the average education level in Guadalupe is fourth grade.
"Guadalupe is a community filled with extremely friendly, positive people. They have been looking for means to build these bridges for almost 15 years, but being a small rural community, finding funding and getting the mayor's office to hear their voices proved to be very difficult. When presented with the idea of working for free, but receiving all the materials necessary to complete these bridges, the community jumped at the chance. The bridges will greatly change and improve the quality of life for the 3,000 people who live in the community, not to mention the additional 4,000 people who regularly cross for business and work reasons. It is a gift to be able to see how the people of this amazing community will progress and prosper because of the construction of these two bridges." The University of Iowa, in cooperation with Bridges To Prosperity and Jamie and the community of Guadalupe, will be building the first bridge.
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Project # 094 Guadalupe Dos Suspended Pedestrian Footbridge
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