The Florida Atlantic University Bridge Program sends civil engineering students to Eswatini, a country in Southeast Africa, annually to construct cable-suspended footbridges that connect the local communities to essential services.
FAU’s College of Engineering and Computer Science established this program in 2020 with Engineers in Action (EIA), a civil and social organization. Since then, the program has built three bridges in Eswatini in the past years. According to their website, the program selects students based on skills to build bridges that help individuals in underserved communities cross rivers without fearing injury or death.
Only FAU Civil Engineer seniors participate in this project as their capstone requirement for graduation, which runs all year. Evan Cabrera, this year’s construction manager for the project, said they are responsible for presenting pitches to various fundraising groups for funding.
“It helps raise the money needed to fund the materials, workers and travel costs to build the bridge,” said Cabrera.
Cabrera noted that this year, FAU’s bridge program had a dedicated team of seniors working exclusively on their “KaBodali” bridge project, unlike other schools that collaborate with partner institutions.
Five engineering students, now FAU alums, led the team: Alejandra Vega, project manager; Tyler Owen, assistant project manager; Claudia Diaz, safety manager; Andrew Gates, design manager; and Cabrera.
According to Gates, the FAU engineers began construction on this year’s bridge on Feb. 5 and completed it on March 15.
“We do all designing and learning in the fall, then all construction and travel in the spring and only stay in the country for two weeks,” said Gates.
Cabrera said the team tested the soil and gathered the necessary information to design the bridge, including the foundation and cables required for the construction.
“Over 1200 feet of cable in total were needed to construct the 274-foot bridge across a river; we had initially estimated 170 days to complete,” said Cabrera. “But [it] was finished in a miraculous 40-day span.”
Cabrera pointed out that over 40 volunteers from the surrounding area in Eswatini had led them to finish the bridge faster. He said that in contrast to the previous trips, they only had 8-10 volunteers to help and do intensive work, which exceeded their time on the site.
According to the Bridge Program website, students built bridges in Eswatini over the past three years. In 2023, they constructed the Emlaleni Mabovini Footbridge, the Lubanjiswano Footbridge in 2021 and the Maphikelela Footbridge in 2020.
With these five students was Anthony Abbate, an FAU architecture professor, who traveled with the seniors for the first time this year as the advisor. He said the students were shocked as they experienced the local culture—eating traditional food, bathing with a bucket or in the river. They were open to living like the locals and spent time with the children of Eswatini.
“It formed a connection to this day that lasted. We will get texts from the family, and they’ll use WhatsApp to communicate how the students are,” said Abbate. “They made an impact beyond the bridge, even [on] a more human level.”
Gates emphasized the incredible impact the construction of the bridge will have on the way of life of the Eswatini community for years to come. He said that more people can travel with improved access to meet their needs and engage with others.
“This gives hope to the community since they want to open a new school on one of the sides of the river,” said Gates. “[The] biggest problem in America [is] we don’t realize how convenient it is… they can cross the river at this point, but there was no alternative before.”
Gates described how the children of Eswatini would walk for two hours up a mountain every day, dressed in their full school uniform, to attend school for several hours before the bridge was built.
Abbate added that the 2025 FAU Bridge Program team and logistics are currently in development. He plans to fundraise to help continue their future bridge constructions.
“The program is an extraordinary and powerful experience for the students and the faculty involved with this, and to realize something so profound to change lives,” said Abbate.
Reese Handley is a Contributing Writer for the University Press. For information regarding this or other stories, email [email protected].
