tresunidos newsletter

In early January we’ve been in Peru for the first time. The trip was thought to check out the feasibility of the project and meet the future project participants.

In Lima our manager Eric Kuhn met Zoe Keone, the contact person of “Bridges to Prosperity”, and spoke with her about her ability to support us in organisational matters. Afterwards he went to Tarapoto, the next bigger city about three hours drive away from Tres Unidos. Here he met Ney Linares and his family and together they went to the village. Ney grew up in Tres Unidos but today lives in the United States. Here he has close contact to “Bridges to Prosperity”, always hoping to find a partner who helps him building a bridge in his home village.

Together Eric and Ney looked for a suitable construction site and talked to the villagers about their possible engagement. They were invited by the major and the governor of the province, who handed out a letter of intention.

Also they made „exploration trips“ to find out which material is available, where one can buy things and how transport could be organised.


	Tres Unidos Footbridge Project Newsletter Issue 1, April 2006 The project and how it all started Our motives and hopes Our first trip to Peru Support we need

The project and how it all started It was coincidental that we came across the American charity “Bridges to Prosperity”. In a technical magazine for bridge design and engineering we read about the donation of a competition’s award to this organisation. Curious about what it might be, we looked for further information and at the end, we were so convinced of their concept that we decided to support them. "Bridges to Prosperity" is a small non-profit association of enthusiasts who organise footbridge building in Third World countries. Emphasis is put on knowledge transfer as well as on the strong engagement of the local community. With local resources and following a simple construction concept, villagers build their bridge themselves. Instructions from the foreign experts are organised in such a way, that after the first project many others can emerge without their assistance. Together with „Bridges to Prosperity“ we developed the Tres Unidos Project. They provided us the contact to the Tres Unidos community. For more details on the project itself, please visit our homepage www.tresunidos.alpintechnik.de

Our motives and hopes We highly benefit from other peoples hard labour and we consider it our social responsibility to give back something of what we have. We all live in comparatively wealthiness and everyone of us profits from the disastrous working conditions that are part of everyday life in most of the poorer countries in the world. Opportunities to pay back for this are many. Also here in Germany, that’s true. But why we decided to put effort and money into the Tres Unidos Project is explained easily. Every single Cent goes directly into the bridge, we do not have to pay for any administrative machinery and can beneficially use our technical competence. Furthermore this project lives from knowledge transfer. If we can manage to only train one person and teach the most important things to erect a durable and safe river crossing, this person can further spread this knowledge – to friends, family, the village people, the people of the region. A small infrastructural project like this also implicates many benefits. If only one or two children can go to school on a regular basis just because the way to the fields is only five minutes instead of one and a half hour (as it is now), we’ve reached all we wanted. And in the next village it may be better access to medical care that makes a bridge the important factor of rural development and growth.

Our first trip to Peru In early January we’ve been in Peru for the first time. The trip was thought to check out the feasibility of the project and meet the future project participants. In Lima our manager Eric Kuhn met Zoe Keone, the contact person of “Bridges to Prosperity”, and spoke with her about her ability to support us in organisational matters. Afterwards he went to Tarapoto, the next bigger city about three hours drive away from Tres Unidos. Here he met Ney Linares and his family and together they went to the village. Ney grew up in Tres Unidos but today lives in the United States. Here he has close contact to “Bridges to Prosperity”, always hoping to find a partner who helps him building a bridge in his home village. Together Eric and Ney looked for a suitable construction site and talked to the villagers about their possible engagement. They were invited by the major and the governor of the province, who handed out a letter of intention. Also they made „exploration trips“ to find out which material is available, where one can buy things and how transport could be organised. pictures of the first trip

Support we need With this project we enter virgin soil. We might be familiar with principles of construction, rope technology and project management but neither have we build a 65 metres span footbridge in the Amazon rainforest nor have we ever managed such a long-term project abroad. Therefore we are glad about every help we can get. Most important of course is financial help. It will be used for construction of the bridge only. All side costs like flights, accommodation etc. will be payed by us. But at least as important is your ideational support. Next to our everyday business we would like to know you on our side, like to know that you share our vision and wish the project every possible success. If you like to contact us, you can do this as normally. In addition, you can use our email-pool team@alpintechnik.de, where all our colleagues have access to at the same time. We look forward to your comments. Thanks!



Alpin Technik und Ingenieurservice GmbH Plautstraße 80, 04179 Leipzig	team@alpintechnik.de www.tresunidos.alpintechnik.de