2011 Project, Trebujeni, Moldova

2011 Project - August 13th - 27th

SITE: Village School, Trebujeni, Moldova

LOCATION: Approx 50 km north east Chisinau

VOLUNTEERS: Minimum of 20, ideally 30-35 volunteers to achieve the following project. Including 2 carpenters, 2 plumbers and 2 electricians (or volunteers with good understanding of these trades)

GENERAL DESCRIPTION: The school, which also serves as a community centre for the village and surrounding area, has no internal toilets and only limited washing facilities. The kitchen is in a poor state of repair, the plumbing is antiquated and the wiring is positively dangerous as are the two cookers that can only be controlled by a remote on/off switch

TEECH will be campaigning over the next year for volunteers to help with this project and to gather equipment and supplies needed. As in previous years all we ask is that volunteers are not afraid of hard work and can raise a minimum of £500 of which £300 covers trip expenses like the coach there and back, insurance, hotels on route and food whilsts on location. For more general information about the TEECH project please click here or contact our secretary gemma on This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it for a volunteer information

PROPOSALS:

1. Convert two existing rooms into toilets with wash basins and shower facilities.
2. Extension of existing cold water supply from kitchen to toilet area.
3. Provision of hot water supply to basins and showers. This will require the installation of hot water cylinders with immersion heaters since the electric supply would not be adequate to feed separate shower heaters.
4. Installation of foul drainage system with inspection chambers, septic tank and land drains.
5. Strip out kitchen, rewire as necessary and replace dangerous cookers – TEECH propose for this work to be outsourced to a local tradesman and to ensure work is complete prior to the start of the project
6. Provide new floor covering, wall tiling and decorations.
7. Replace dining room sinks.
8. Redecorate dining room.
9. Convert spare room into TEECH COMMUNITY ROOM. Redecorate and provide new furnishings and furniture.
10. IT Room equipped with PCs and office furniture

LOGISTICS:

A steep and rugged approach to the school would require the TEECH vehicles to be parked and unloaded in the village street at the bottom of the hill. Tractors will be made available to us to move goods equipment etc up to the school. The authorities would provide watchmen for the vehicles overnight and when not being used.

The school would provide a cook for the duration of our stay. The kitchen will not be available whilst it is being refurbished so the dining room will need to be fitted out as a temporary kitchen. This means that work to the kitchen will need to be completed in 5 days to allow 3 days for reinstatement and redecoration of the dining room. Other rooms will be made available to use as dormitories however the surroundings are pleasant and camping is a viable alternative.

Temporary toilet facilities will need to be provided especially for nighttime users. To minimise the chore of emptying portaloos the existing ‘hole in the ground’ facilities could be adapted and used during the daytime.

CONDITIONS

Volunteers should be warned of the likely high temperatures and the lack of shade on this treeless site so that the necessary precautions against sunburn/sunstroke can be taken. The well water is said to be suitable for drinking although most volunteers would likely prefer bottled water. The mains water is suitable only for washing.

PLANS

The drawings show the larger of the two rooms converted to a girl’s toilet with five toilet cubicles and four washbasins. Part of the room is partitioned off with a stud partition to create a shower area. The smaller room becomes the boy’s toilet with three toilet cubicles, three urinals and four basins. Part of this room is also divided off to create a shower area although this can be omitted from the proposal if time money or manpower is limited.

PROJECT MANAGEMENT

This is an ambitious project and will only be achieved in the limited time available if it is well planned, well organised and with sufficient resources both in terms of finance and of manpower. The latter to include appropriate tradesmen and volunteers dedicated to the project.

A working regime must be quickly established. Programmes and schedules should allow for each member to have at least one full day away from the site to go site seeing and exploring, meeting local people and distributing items they have personally collected. A project meeting will be held every morning and this will provide the opportunity to keep everyone advised as to progress, problems could be resolved and targets set.

The project could be broken into three parts each with team leader who report directly to the project manager: -

1. Toilets and drains
2. Kitchen
3. Community Room and Decorations generally.

Supervisors would then be responsible for the various trades:- Drainage, Carpentry, Plumbing, Electrical, Wall tiling and Decorations.

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