"Some cows refused to cross the water," says cattle farmer Eric Mutabazi, recalling the days when it took hours to find a safe place to cross the Lwizi river, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo's eastern Tanganyika province.
Its treacherous waters meant "the safety of my livestock and my income were at stake," he says.
But what could Mutabazi do? The Lwizi bridge, the only crossing for 300km, was destroyed during the DRC's 1990s war. The rural farming communities the bridge served were isolated, their access to grazing land, education, trade and vital services, severely restricted.
Last year, thanks to the wizardry of a World Food Programme (WFP) rehabilitation project, the 15-metre-long concrete structure reopened, restoring access to the other side of the river for thousands of people living in the towns of Nyunzu, Kalemie and the trading hub of Kabalo.
Catalyst for growth
Now they can visit their families. Cattle breeders can sell cows; traders can easily transport bags of maize to markets, and big trucks can efficiently reach Kabalo with bags of cassava flour. And children no longer need to take dangerous boat journeys to school.
Rehabilitating the bridge is part of a broader WFP push for sustainable development, gender equality and food security aimed at 6,000 families in the Lwizi area. It shows the dividends that a relative state of peace can bring, in a country where unrest is rife.
Countrywide, some 26 million people in DRC face severe food-insecurity. An ongoing crisis in the northeast, roiled by years of conflict in North Kivu, South Kivu and Ituri provinces, have pushed millions to the brink of disaster.
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