More than 13 years after his parents drowned in a flash flood, David
Kakuko is at the Moruny River, building a bridge that might have
prevented their deaths.The hanging footbridge will provide safe passage over the Moruny, a frequently flooded waterway in West Pokot, Kenya.
"Before the bridge, there [were] so many people, so many who lost their lives," said Kakuko, 32. "I know, because I have no parents. I have no parents, because this river took them."
Kakuko is working alongside other local residents and Harmon Parker, a master mason who has been building bridges through Kenya's mountainous terrain since 1997.
Parker, a Lexington, Kentucky, native who came to Kenya in 1989, has seen firsthand how flash floods -- and the threat of predators such as crocodiles and hippos -- can make rivers impassable in isolated communities.
"I've worked all over Kenya," said Parker, 54. "And every community [has] a story of ... loved ones lost."
When Parker arrived in Kenya as a young missionary, he befriended Jay Hindson, a fellow development worker who introduced him to a bridge build in 1996. The experience changed the course of his life.
"It was a plea from the community," Parker recalled. "I saw that building a bridge could change lives and transform communities."
Source: CNN | Danielle Berger
