Being in Rwanda for International Women in Engineering Day is an extra treat for this build, so I'm super excited to have the honour of being responsible for the blog update today. 
We started on site with the usual briefings but this time I had the privilege  to lead the daily briefing. Juliana led the warm up (dancing) and Grace and Katerina had photos taken with some of the local ladies holding the INWED23 selfie card. 
We made great progress with the build and secured more than 20 decking panels today. The girls were first up with harnesses today to secure the decking and a nod to mark INWED. 
The theme for INWED day is #makesafetyseen. This is a key objective of this build. We want everyone to be safe and go home from work as good as they came, and if possible, better. This objective is reflected by both Balfour Beatty and Mott MacDonald safety objectives. The Balfour Beatty four golden rules have formed a key element to instilling good work practices - every day we remind eachother of the rules as part of the daily briefings and we hope that those four rules will become embedded into the local working practices. Several of the local team have commented that they feel safe, they welcome the level of consideration to their safety and are thankful for the provision of PPE; something not always provided on all sites.
Sharing best practice is a great way to help avoid repeated injuries, so having teams formed of people from different backgrounds, companies and experiences really means we have the best capability to find a safe solution to any problem and leave a legacy in the community to #makesafetyseen. 
This new bridge will support the local community to be better connected and it will undoubtedly be of real benefit to the women in the community, who will now be able to travel safely, even during times of flooding. Those with children will know that when their children are at school, even if the flood level rises, their children will come home safe. 
While we're here we hope that we can be great role models to all,  show that engineering is open to anyone and challenge any belief that engineering is not a career for women. Showing girls they can be an engineer is only one step in the fight to bring equity to engineering. We were mindful that it's estimated that 20% of girls in Rwanda miss up to 50 days of education as a result of period poverty. As a small step to combating yet another hurdle restricting career choices for girls, we arrived with 50 boxes of sanitary towels to gift to the school. Hopefully, our small contribution will enable a few of the local girls to gain a strong education and keep choices open for their next steps. 

As Team Leader for this build, I have been blown away by the BBMM23 team. We are smashing the programme, integrating with the local team, staying safe but also making great memories.  The team success may have made my job easy, but I'm glad to be here to be part of this experience. 

Although the bridge will no doubt bring great benefit to the area, this initiative is about more than just providing a bridge. I think it's safe to say, on behalf of the whole team, that we have never experienced anything like this trip. We may never do so again. Each moment creates a memory that we will cherish for a lifetime and we will go home different to the person that stepped in that 8 hour overnight flight a week ago!
P
-Kat D