Footbridges on Mount Kilimanjaro

funded through none other than the Ewha connection! When I was attending the 50th reunion of the class of 1964 at Ewha Girls High School, Mrs. Kang Soon-ja, the then head mistress of the school, pledged $3,000. Donations from Mrs. Kyoung Hoy Kim Cho and her two sons added enough money for two more concrete bridges.

A little diversion which I cannot resist ... Mrs. Cho is a dear older sister of mine who is also an Ewha alumni. She was very much into speed skating while at Ewha High School.

At age 16 she was selected to compete for Korea in speed skating at the Winter Olympics. Little did she know then that she was the very first Korean female athlete to participate in the Olympics.

Though in her mid-70s now, she was one of the Olympics torch bearers at the opening of the PyeongChang Winter Olympics in South Korea earlier this year.

At the start of each footbridge, Anence and her fellow Rotarians make a point of meeting with villagers to verify first of all that a concrete footbridge is indeed their priority and to ask what they themselves were ready to contribute to make it happen.

They invariably offered stones, gravel, sand and labor. They collected these materials and carried them to the site. Villagers also cleared the pathway to the footbridge.

As president of her Rotary Club, Anence was to cut the ribbon at the official opening of the new concrete footbridge. Instead, she invited the village chairman to do the honors.

He took the scissors, cut the ribbon and lifted up his arms triumphantly to the rousing cheer from his villagers. Then the villagers followed him across the newly opened bridge with dancing steps.

The parish priest Mlay added, “This bridge belongs to our children and our children’s children. For them we must all do our part to keep it in good shape,” he said. Villagers gave another rousing cheer.

Three footbridges have been completed so far, all through the Ewha connection; two more are lined up with a donation from Yesoon Chang and the Ewha class of 1964.

Thereafter two Rotary-funded bridges will follow, one each from Rotary Clubs of Chico and Santa Rosa in California. That covers about one quarter of the concrete footbridges Mwika needs.

A small step as a starter which will hopefully add one at a time to make a big difference to the lives of people in Mwika. Anence surely won’t stop here till she sees that all the people of Mwika can cross its many streams safely in all seasons.