At the end of last month, some of our workers joined hands with one of the 5 local road crews we have been supporting. The team we were working with consists of the members of one of the local football teams.

Youth crew hard at work; a local football team.

In just two days they completed a road diversion to increase the safety on a stretch of road that frequently causes accidents. Whilst they were completing the road diversion, they witnessed one such accident. A bike moving up the steep road lost the use of its breaks, fell down the hill, hit into another bike crossing the small bridge, and both ended up in the water. The bikes took damage and a woman was hurt who had also been crossing the bridge on her way to a local market.

Retrieving his bike from the water after the accident.

We have also been able to offer the youth-initiated road crews support through the provision of a rock hammer as well as some small money to buy their lunches and drinks as they work. The government does not provide funds for road development in this area (the far side of the country from the capital) and so the crews are reliant on road users to contribute to their needs through paying small tolls.

As we move forward with the youth we are focusing on maintaining the roads that connect people to neighbouring towns, local marketplaces, and villages to main roads. Where the roads are unsafe, we are planning road diversion routes as many of the old roads were created without thought to safe gradients or heavy water flow in the wet seasons.

The new road next to the old one.