<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nI was amazed at the resourcefulness of our team and all the community members who worked tirelessly for 12 straight days to build this bridge. There were many difficult tasks, including moving the heavy tower legs into position, first untangling then pulling the massive main cables across the river; dealing with mud everywhere, on everything, all-day-long; cutting and bending hundreds of rebars; moving, sorting, and cutting hundreds of heavy hardwood boards; recovering from rushing river torrents with whole trees and rafts of trees tangling our cables; and coping with the rainfall, humidity, heat, and exhaustion. It was a massive task, and to see it completed on time and without injury was a massive experience for myself, our entire team, B2P Panama, and the community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We saw firsthand how much the local community needed this bridge and often how hard it was for them to cross the river, which they had to do to reach services, jobs, stores, and family. One day the river literally came up 5 to 6 feet in a matter of minutes due to heavy rainfall in the mountains, stranding dozens of locals and two of our team for many hours on the other side of the river. Our stranded team members took the opportunity to visit the Banacito village, more than an hour\u2019s walk away, and stayed there overnight with a Peace Corps volunteer. Some local community members who were stranded braved the rushing waters and swam across the river in the dark! Having a safe footbridge that they can cross any time will be life-changing for all the people in the area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I am grateful for the opportunity, proud of our team, thankful for Parsons\u2019 support, and very, very happy to have met and worked with all the friendly and hardworking community members from Banacito. I will never forget the many experiences we had in those 2 weeks, the friendships made, and what was accomplished. I encourage all my colleagues at Parsons to volunteer for future opportunities, to volunteer in other ways in their communities and around the world, and to help Parsons make the world a better place.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
We came as 11 co-workers and left as a family.\u00a0In June 2018, our\u00a0multinational team\u00a0of Parsons employees came together\u00a0to build a vital footbridge\u00a0for the hamlet of Banacito, Panama. It took collaboration […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6293,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"templates\/narrow-no-sidebar.php","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"4506,5917,11452,10370,7400,1949","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11684","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-press-release"],"yoast_head":"\n
Collaborating to Build a Lifeline<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n