This project has been completed under the direction of Peace Corps Volunteer Pier Vernaza. To read about the beginning of the project, CLICK HERE.
The project was to build 2 bathrooms and provide the necessary water supply and sewage systems.
A summary of Pier’s report is as follows:
The bathroom project at Kol Tome School in Vele village has been completed. The project consisted of building two new bathroom spaces, one each for girls and boys, inside the school facility.
The project included the construction of wall divisions for the two bathroom spaces, European toilets, water flushers for the toilets, sinks, and faucets, floor and wall tile, toilet paper holders, trash cans, liquid soap containers, new aluminum windows and a door stall, renovation of existing aluminum and wood doors, water and septic pipes, water tank materials, and labor for construction. The monetary donation from parents and teachers was spent for sanitary supplies, such as liquid soap, detergent, cleaning supplies, hand towels, and toilet paper.
On March 3, 2017, the nurses from the hospital in Rreshen and the health center from Vele, presented hand wash lesson to Kol Tome students from first to nine grades. The nurse from Vele has been trained on this hand wash class so she can provide this lesson every 6 months at Kol Tome school.
In order to raise awareness and a sense of responsibility in the students, I facilitated a PowerPoint presentation, showing the before and after pictures of the project, and pictures of all the people, local institutions, and Water Charity who provide help with the project. I showed pictures of behaviors to be avoided so as to not break things in the bathrooms. I have given this presentation to the director for the other teachers to use to remind the students to be respectful with the bathroom facilities.
The students (girls and boys) and teachers have been very grateful for the project. They were positively responsive, and showed their interest by volunteering and helping, such as when we needed to unload the bathroom materials from the truck and transport them to the school facility on the other side of the creek. This week, girls and boys collaborated by helping to clean the bathrooms after the construction and plumbing work was finished. It was very rewarding to see them working with me.
Kol Tome school students, girls and boys, and teachers are humbly thankful for the functional bathroom facilities that have been provided.
We are grateful to Pier for completing another successful Let Girls Learn project in Albania. We again extend our thanks to Wilco Krul for providing the funds for this project.
