“So many bridges, so many lives, so much hope”

Given the current state of the world, it is understandable that doubts are expressed about whether people can truly live together peacefully, as equals and with mutual respect. Such doubts overlook the fact that it is deliberate, propaganda-driven smear-campaigns that pit people against each other. Countless examples of prominent figures show that it is deeply ingrained in human nature to stand up for one’s fellow human beings. One of them is Toni Rüttimann, who comes from Pontresina in the Engadin. Many know him as a “bridge builder”, which he has been in both the literal and metaphorical sense for almost forty years.¹

‘The first time in my life
I saw so much suffering’

“We have built 365 bridges in Ecuador, thus completing our work in the country,”² writes Toni Rüttimann, also known as Toni el Suizo, in his latest newsletter. In it, he reports on his projects as a bridge builder, first in South America and now in Southeast Asia.
    Almost forty years ago, on the night after graduating from the Lyceum Alpinum in Zuoz, Toni Rüttimann set off for Ecuador, which had been devastated by an earthquake: “It was Ecuador and the suffering of its inhabitants after the 1987 earthquake that showed me the way, and its people stood by me from the very beginning”, he writes today. At that time, he realised what it meant to no longer have bridges that provided access to food, a safe route to school, medical care and fuel for vehicles. “Entire villages were still cut off behind the raging rivers. Endless families walked through the countryside with their belongings in bundles, searching for a new life. Crying children stood in the ruins along the way, lost in their despair. It was the first time in my life that I had seen so much suffering.”³

‘Did you hear the river?’

Almost four decades have passed since then. Perseverance and tenacious effort, driven by a great sense of humanity, have shaped Toni Rüttimann’s journey through life ever since. “This is not the time to tell the whole story. That would take a book. And all my gratitude will never be enough, especially when I know what has become of this story for almost three million people in distant countries. It’s a little sad to stop now [in Ecuador], of course, but it’s also wonderful to see that we are no longer really needed there.”
     But without his courageous pioneering work, we would not be where we are today, with the responsible governments taking action themselves and Toni Rüttimann able to say:
     “On the Río Aguarico, our fourth bridge is still the longest at 264 metres. For 35 years, this bridge has served faithfully the eleven communities that built it barefoot with leftover pipes and drill ropes from the nearby oil fields. A few months ago, the provincial and district government opened a modern vehicle bridge next to it. Something that had seemed impossible for 35 years, just as our footbridge had seemed impossible before. I have asked the authorities to take the footbridge out of service and give the cables a well-deserved quiet. This also for safety reasons. They say they want to keep the footbridge next to the new one open. I would love to ask the workers who assembled this bridge under the same scorching sun and thunderous downpours, with the wind in their faces, up there on the cables so high above the Aguarico: ‘Colleagues, did you also hear the river?’ Because what I learned back then on that river has helped me with almost a thousand more bridges.”

Even in a war-torn country

Toni Rüttimann’s humanitarian commitment touched the hearts of many people. One example is Walter Yanez, a 22-year-old welder and mechanic from Lago Agrio, who continued to work on the bridge projects in Ecuador until 2025. Together they had also built 101 bridges in Colombia, Central America and Mexico after earthquakes and hurricanes had caused severe damage. “We were flown to three countries by the Ecuadorian Air Force in their C-130 Hercules transport aircraft as a gift to brother nations in need.”
    While the work in Ecuador is now complete, it continues in Southeast Asia exactly on the other side of the planet. “Although one has to ask oneself how it is possible to continue working in a war-torn country like Myanmar. Ongoing armed fighting is raging in the border states – Shan, Kachin, Kayah, Kayin and others – causing massive displacement and acute humanitarian needs. And yet, over the past 17 years, we have built 180 bridges throughout Myanmar, 13 of them in 2025 alone.”

Bridge building by bus

His colleague Aiklian is an indispensable help to him here. “Quiet, fast, almost invisible. A man who works with villagers, Buddhist monks, local authorities. And where necessary, with both sides of the military conflict.” First together with Toni Rüttimann and now alone, Aiklian travels across the country by public bus, covering great distances from north to south and east to west. “Week after week, year after year. No one counts how many nights. Especially not him. We have been calling that for a long-time bridge building by bus. Aiklian and I in the bus, our tools under the bus. The bridge kit itself is transported to the site in advance by the villagers, on trucks and sometimes boats, organised by them.”
    But Toni Rüttimann himself has only been able to follow the work from afar for some time now, first because of Covid-19, then the military coup, and now he is fighting his way back step by step from his renewed paralysis due to Guillain-Barré syndrome. Fortunately, he and the many people who need a bridge builder can count on Aiklian: “A man in a bus, on his way to change the lives of communities, 6,000 people here, 10,000 people there, further and further. And he will do so until we have used up our pipes and wire ropes in Myanmar – that’s about 20 more bridges.”

Wire ropes for bridges
instead of ski slopes

Steel pipes, an important element in bridge construction, are donated by Tenaris, a global producer of seamless steel pipes. Wire ropes are also on their way for bridges in Indonesia. The container ship NYK Oceanus is transporting them from Rotterdam to Singapore. Three of its containers are filled with 23,000 metres of wire rope. They were donated last year by cable car companies in the Swiss mountains and come from Swiss tourist resorts such as St. Moritz. “I spent hundreds of afternoons skiing here as a child. Skiing, racing, jumping – how I enjoyed the freedom of the mountains!” recalls Toni Rüttimann.
    By now, the cargo (duty-free thanks to the generosity of the government) should have been received by Indonesian colleague Suntana at the port of Jakarta. He will take part of it directly to Aceh in North Sumatra, which has once again been hit by floods. “How often did I ride in these cable cars and look up at the mighty cables above us, carrying us safely through the icy winter sky. I had no idea what role they would play in my life. How often did I read the name Garaventa on the nameplate of the builder of this and most of the other cable cars.” And here, too, there was human commitment: Fredy von Moos, the company’s retired assembly and logistics manager, personally took care of storing the wire ropes collected from all parts of the country, preparing export documents, loading everything into containers and shipping it. “Everything from the heart,” writes Toni Rüttimann.

Freedom must be built

In view of the current world situation, Toni Rüttimann’s unwavering commitment to the well-being of all people gives pause for thought. He is correct when he writes: “At the age of 19, after becoming a bridge builder for the poor, I never went skiing again. I had learned to look at freedom and needs differently. Freedom must be built. For and with people. The fruit of all this – so many bridges, so many lives, so much hope. Thank you to everyone who helped!”
    He is also fighting to regain more freedom for himself, as he notes in the PS of his newsletter: “It has been just over seven months since Guillaume-Barré syndrome struck me again. I am practising patiently, and now I walk 3,000 steps and swim 500 metres every day. My arms and hands are slowly improving, and I can type this note with two fingers. Twenty-three years ago, my recovery took two years; this time, we will have to wait and see. Thank you for all your good wishes and thoughts, my friends.” •

¹   See also: Perret, Eliane. “Building bridges between people and places.” In: Current Concerns No. 19 of 26 September 2023; Perret, Eliane. “Bridges to fellow human beings and to the world.” In: Current Concerns No. 15 of 15 July 2025
²   Rüttimann, Toni. “So many bridges – so many lives.” Newsletter dated 19 December 2025. The quotations not specifically listed below are taken from this newsletter.
3   These personal memories of Toni Rüttimann’s early years as a bridge builder can be found on the website of the Dr. J. E. Brandenberger Foundation, whose award he received in 1999. They have been reproduced in this article with the kind permission of Toni Rüttimann; https://www.stiftungbrandenberger.ch/index.php/de/archiv/69-1999-toni-ruettimann.