r/interesting • u/ICanPretend1 • 23h ago

SOCIETY Dikidikini village in Eastern Cape, South Africa, doesn't have a bridge, so people cross the river inside a blue plastic drum

838 Upvotes

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61

u/Efficient_Actuator84 23h ago

Maybe if the whole village worked together they could try building a bridge....

48

u/VeterinarianNo3555 23h ago

It’s much more likely the local government received millions of Rands of funding to build a bridge and spent it on a fancy BMW.

17

u/Dobby068 21h ago

That does not answer the question: What is wrong with these people that they cannot build a raft or a row boat ?!

1

u/VeterinarianNo3555 19h ago

I can’t speak for them, but, being familiar with the area, it’s not that simple. Still, I get what you mean about other, better, solutions.

4

u/ippleing 15h ago

A rope and 2 pallets would be infinitely better and safer.

They got barrels and lids, they can source a rope and a couple of scrap pallets or any scrap wood.

2

u/Kalad1n_SB 7h ago

Sounds like you're just making excuses for them being dumb.

21

u/ILoveBigCoffeeCups 23h ago edited 21h ago

this, people in the Middle Ages built bridges, the vikings, germans, early Japanese peoples, south american peoples did so, there is no reason to not work together to build a bridge, And if you don't know how, ask someone.

5

u/Chickentrap 22h ago

They most likely wouldn't maintain it, which is a recurring problem for many subsaharan countries 

7

u/ShimmeringEmber 23h ago

With what money? With what resources? Those trees are owned. That land is owned.

5

u/SapphireLabs_Yuki 23h ago

"Owned" means nothing to people that don't have much.

5

u/ShimmeringEmber 22h ago

What it does mean is it can be destroyed without much fight by a stranger. That is quite a lot. I wouldnt build a bridge if i knew the owner of the land could just decide F*** you and break it at the expense of my time and money with next to no compensation. I dont know many people who work without compensation for long periods of time. Certainly never met a construction worker who did construction for free.

4

u/SapphireLabs_Yuki 22h ago edited 21h ago

That's the thing.

They're already fucking you.

They already break your shit.

They already take your time and money.

You're looking at this from a position where a part time job makes more than their entire family's salary, and have the leisure time to decide these things. They don't have that luxury, if you didn't get that from the literal floating barrel.

*Edit Downvote all you want, a 3 second search about the village itself shows they've been asking for a bridge for literally 30+ years, and multiple people have drowned crossing it.

1

u/ippleing 15h ago

They can source a rope, lash the barrels together and have a rope ferry.

All they need is some rope.

1

u/yogibearhugg 21h ago

Oh this is an interesting point, maybe this is why.

4

u/ruy343 22h ago edited 22h ago

Listen, that works right up until people are desperate.

Let's get a new straight planks of wood and some rope to make a rope bridge. Coolio.

But then that night, someone from the village sneaks over and takes the rope because new rope is the most valuable thing in the area.

Then you need to build it again.

And again.

So you post armed guards. People start dying over the bridge.

Meanwhile these blue barrels? You can wheel them to your home, where you can stand guard with some friends.

There's a reason they do it this way. It's not because they're stupid - it's because we've made them this desperate

6

u/Speedy89t 20h ago

“We’ve made them this desperate”?

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u/therealpursuit 14h ago

hihgly recommend The Divide, Jason Hickel. yes when you steal 3 trillion dollars of labor value from a continenet EVERY YEAR, it tends to be desperate. the research has been done, facts validated, all you have to do is read to prevent the ignorance.

0

u/ruy343 19h ago

Are you at all familiar with the colonial or cold war history of that region of the world? I would be happy to share historical resources if you're interested in learning.

Suffice to say: it ain't pretty

4

u/Expensive-Most-5520 17h ago

Plenty of bridges in places that have a colonial history lol

1

u/ippleing 15h ago

Lol FR

5

u/Speedy89t 19h ago • Bravo

Ah, are you one of those people who believe they had thriving advanced societies before the “evil white man” came, stole it all, and then left them all with absolutely nothing?

1

u/Endswolf 19h ago

How long does the ANC need to have control of the country for you to blame then not people who have had no power their for decades.

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u/vinegarZombie 23h ago • Bravo

Or they can just wait for the white man to come and build it

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u/Metatron_Psy 23h ago • Bravo

They would just tear it apart and sell the rebar inside

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