I haven’t mentioned much about the school and our handicap accessibility projects lately, as our work from the ramps is pretty much done. The biggest step, which the school director and I started discussing over a year ago, is renovating their bathroom and sewer system to make them accessible (and usable, really). Right now, students and teachers have to go to the bathroom outside, which is horrible in the winter and completely unsanitary, as there’s no place to wash up afterwards. And considering the whole facility is on a muddy slope, it redefines the word “inaccessible”. Here are some pictures of the current situation (sorry these aren’t as pretty as Greece):
Pretty gruesome, eh? Well, the week after I returned from Greece, we worked non-stop to finish our Peace Corps SPA grant to renovate four of the bathrooms, redo the sewer system, and make it all handicap accessible (for the students of the special education program). The total cost for this (modest) renovation is about $7500. Hopeful, I promised the director, way back in October 2006, that we would get this done, some day, some how. The good news came today: our grant was approved!
What does this mean? A lot: by April, we hope to have four bathrooms completed, all conforming to ADA standards as best we can (they don’t really have standards here, or an idea of what barrier-free access even means). But, I have a guide book from the Internet, and some construction specs, so we’ll see how it goes! Regardless, this is a great great thing for the school and its students, and it is our hope that accessible facilities will motivate more students with disabilities to attend public school and will change the community’s attitude about them. Plus, it will just make the whole place more hygienic and clean. So, wish us luck and stay tuned as we break (or rather, repair the broken) ground February 1, 2008!
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7 Responses:
November 28th, 2007 at 9:00 pm
Wow. I’ll never complain about the facilities in the State Parks again! Congratulations on receiving the SPA grant andI hope all goes well for you with this project. You are all doing so much for the country of Armenia. I would like to know what kind of handicaps they deal with (that’s the nurse thing in me) and what you estimate the number of handicapped are there.
Best wishes with your most recent project.
Mrs. Z
November 28th, 2007 at 11:00 pm
[...] Journey in Armenia updates its readers on a current Peace Corps project to renovate the bathroom and sewer system in a local school. With substandard facilities at present, the Peace Corps Volunteer (PCV) hopes that the renovation [...]
December 5th, 2007 at 10:20 am
It sounds like you’re doing some amazing work over there. I feel honored to call you a friend. Hope you’re still enjoying your time overseas and I look forward to reading more about your experiences!
October 11th, 2008 at 5:07 pm
[...] projects as well as highlight some of the needs. A recent PCV who left Armenia this summer wrote about his project in Noyemberian late last year. I haven’t mentioned much about the school and our handicap accessibility projects [...]
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