School built by WECF and Katachel in Afghanistan has been festively opened
In its 8 classrooms, 250 boys and 350 girls are taught by 8 teachers in three shifts
07.11.2005 |Gero Fedtke
Festive Opening of the WECF and Katachel school building in the village Akakhel, Afghanistan
This is the first school that has been built in the village, which has not only severely suffered from more than 20 years of war and civil strife, but has also been neglected so far by international aid programmes because it is located on the remote desert plateau of the Dasht-i Eshantup and has been considered a stronghold of the Taliban. The activities for building the school have fundamentally changed Akakhel’s isolated situation. Katachel’s activists received an open welcome by the local population. Young men from the village Akakhel, who have constantly taken part in building the school and are now part of its first classes have even taken up the habit of regularly visiting Katachel e.V. headquarters in Katachel village. The process of building a school in a joint effort has thus already contributed considerably to moving people in the region towards peace and co-operation. Children from Akakhel (Pashtuns) and Shun Shur Darr (Hazaras) will learn side by side at the new school.
The building was constructed in only 4 months on a foundation of limestone with brick walls reinforced by ferro-concrete girders. The ceilings are made of wood; the building is covered by a tin roof. The construction of the tin roof has been possible thanks to additional funding provided by the Bingo-Lotto foundation. It enhances the durability of the building.
In its 8 classrooms, 250 boys and 350 girls are taught by 8 teachers in three shifts. The teachers are employed and paid by the provincial government, which has also taken over the responsibility for maintaining the building. The number of boys is smaller than it could be for the time being, since the boys have to go down to the river valley 12 kilometres away from the village to fetch water every day. Establishing a water supply for the village poses many problems. WECF and its project partners are currently looking for effective solutions.
The school is equipped with eco-san toilets. Using human faeces and urine as a fertilizer is already being practiced in the region. Eco-san offers the possibility to improve the effectiveness of the methods currently used.
Furthermore, Katachel e.V. has built one small bridge in the village of Char Tut and 12 wells in the villages Kattaarab and Kattauzbek. The bridge improves the accessibility of Char Tut considerably, since the main road can now be reached from the village by cars and in any weather conditions, which previously had been very difficult or even impossible. The wells are mostly built in household yards to ensure easy access for women, for whom it would be sometimes a problem to be exposed in public while fetching water. Each well provides water for approximately 35 people. These wells are an essential improvement to the water supply situation for more than 400 people and will considerably increase their quality of life and state of health.
