A New Bridge for the Oliashire Community

We recently celebrated the opening of the Oliashire Bridge made possible by many, but in particular, the family of Christine Morin who, in her memory, generously joined hands to make the construction of this footbridge become a reality. We cannot tell you what a difference this will make to the lives of our Oliashire  schoolchildren and community, allowing them safe passage over the Siteti River. Our deepest gratitude for this extremely generous gift that is literally saving lives as well as helping the community to access essential services.

This foot bridge, engineered and built by Bridging The Gap Africa in partnership with AKTF, will change the lives of children in our AKTF-supported Oliashire school and the local community who can now safely cross the Siteti River. A special thanks to AKTF team member Carol for working closing with the BTG Africa team to complete the project in record time and before the heavy rains!

During the handing over ceremony, the Oliashire community requested we relay the message below on their behalf to the Hunter Morin family:

"First and foremost, Oliashire community wanted to extend their warm greetings and love to you and your families.

Yesterday was a huge success to us all! The bridge project that was completed with your support was an incredible accomplishment for our entire community, we are immensely grateful for your kindness, and we wanted to thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your generous donation by constructing this bridge in memory of your wife and mother. Your noble gesture has deeply moved us, and without a doubt we will ensure her legacy continues living on and making an impact in Oliashire community through this bridge project. 

In the past, our community has unfortunately witnessed tragic losses of lives due to the perils of this river including school children and cherished community members. So please know this bridge to us represents more than just a construction project, it is an emblem of hope and safety for our people, offering a ray of optimism and security for our people.

This bridge will not only save lives of the community here, but it will also give us much needed access to, education and medical services, In particular during rainy period, our mothers/wives have been unable to access the critical maternal health services leading to detrimental consequences. This bridge was a project we have been striving towards for many years to no success. But today, we are beyond grateful, your contribution has made a difference for many lives and generations to come in our community. Thank you for making Oliashire community a better place and inspiring us to do the same for each other

You were All very much missed yesterday but We look forward to meeting you someday, but in the meantime may God Bless you and keep you safe always until we meet."