The Crane

April 13, 2008
This crane sits on the dock to the west of our ship. It was used to load iron ore from the Bong Mines onto the ships before the civil war.

February 5, 2008
The picture above was taken the first week we arrived here in February.
Every day we watch young men in shorts and bare feet balance their way out along the ties and with a small hack saw start sawing at the massive beams.

April 8, 2008
Above is the picture of the crane taken last week. The whole diagonal section on the right is now gone.

Each beam is tied with huge bags full of polystyrene (which you can see in the picture above). Once the beam is severed it is dropped into the water and allowed to float with the bags.

One member of the team jumps into the water and swims the large beam back to shore. Such is the ingenuity and hard work when food is a basic unfulfilled need. Scrap metal can be sold by weight.