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Toilets and Well for
Ser Village School, N.W. Romania
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Donate For Life was
invited to visit four remote and poorly serviced villages in the Satu-Mare
Province of N.W. Romania.
This out of the way and unindustrialized rural area basically exists
on subsistence farming, sunflower seed/oil and maize for livestock.
It is struggling for survival. |
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Horse or donkey and cart are still
a very common sight as the main form of transport. No household, school
or public building in any of the villages visited has indoor toilets
or running drinkable water. Medical clinics are located in the damp
and cold back rooms of the primary schools and they too have no running
water.
The Government is cumbersome, slow moving and has limited funds, leaving
villages such as these in a highly disadvantaged position. The village
schools have many classrooms that are damp and overcrowded. Whilst
all the schools in the four villages visited are in much the same
condition Donate For Life is focusing its attention on the village
of Ser as it is the poorest and most underprivileged of those we visited.
There are 73 boys and girls in the Ser school. They and the seven
staff all use the five very basic outdoor pit latrines. In the summer
the stench is rank and using the facilities in the wet or sub zero
temperatures of winter is a gruelling experience.
To help alleviate the harshness of the life in Ser Donate For Life
will be working closely with the Director of the four village schools.
The management team will ensure that the project uses local labour
and materials to install a well, indoor toilets and washing facilities.
We will also build a drain to divert the run off water that is causing
the harmful damp within the school building. |
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The total cost is estimated to be
£2,500. The improvement of the facilities and provision of running,
drinkable water will greatly enhance the quality of life in Ser school.
The children and staff deserve this small luxury that we take so much
for granted. |
| Furthermore, by improving the school
facilities the community will gain a functional ‘village hall’
for communal purposes in the evenings and out of school hours. Romanian
rural communities are strong, despite the wide scale search for employment,
and still have a balanced population of young and old, and by this
relatively simple and inexpensive act of improving school facilities,
traditional rural life remains a valuable option. |
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© 2005 Donate For Life. Registered charity number 1078369
