Bozalan School

[Pi55y]

Just before Christmas I advised that the 3C's were helping the young children at Bozalan village school, one of the poorest schools in the whole of the large Fethiye education area.

This small village school which has 30 children aged between 5 and 8 is located  well up in the mountains some 3500 feet  above sea level overlooking  Tlos/Saklikent, about an hour's drive from Fethiye. The school is very difficult to get to, along a twisting narrow mountain road and it is often cut off by snow during the winter months. Because of this, the school's  three teachers have to live on site in a small basic  house next to the school.

The flat roof of the dilapidated school building had been leaking badly for years and it has only been possible for them to use two out of the four classrooms in the building, as the rest of the rooms were so badly water damaged.  Also, as there was no real heating system at the school, the school was so cold that it could not dry out. In addition, the water system at the school is very much hit and miss and water has to be provided from portable metal water supply tanks.

After making an initial visit to the school late last year, the 3C's met with the Milli Egitim (Director of Education) and offered to adopt the school and to meet half of the cost of 12,000 TL repairs to the roof.

We also agreed to install a wood burning stove heating system and radiators into the school. This system had been very generously pledged to the 3C's by an anonymous local businessman/sponsor for us to allocate to a specific deserving school project. We visited the school with this anonymous sponsor who agreed that Bozalan was an ideal school to receive this heating system.

Unfortunately, repairs had been held up due to the bad weather but we are now pleased to advise that the new steel structure and tiled roof has finally been completed along with a covered porch area.
 
Also, an efficient wood-burning stove connected to multiple sealed radiators in the classrooms has now been installed by our sponsor at a cost of 9,000 TL.  We cannot thank him enough for this. The school has an adequate supply of logs to fuel this system for a couple of years, as it is located in a forestry logging area.

Unfortunately, due to the recent storms  the road to the school has been impassable for a while but some of our committee, along with Dilek Dincer, the Director of FETAV (the Foundation that the 3C's charity legally works under)  finally got to visit the school  on Monday and were pleased to meet the children in their now lovely warm school.

The building  is slowly drying out but it will be at least a couple of months before it can be repainted  inside, as the salts are coming through in every room but it is slowly getting there.  It is also hoped that eventually the end classroom can be converted into an indoor toilet to that the children do not have to traipse through the rain and snow in winter to the dilapidated  outside toilet block which presently has no water supply.

There is still a lot of work to be done and a lot of things to be purchased for this poor village school which has very little in the way of anything.  However, we hope that we can help them more in the coming months.

Again we thank all of our supporters for helping us to make a difference to the well beiing of these children as we would not have been able to achieve these results without your continuing support and generosity.

A few pictures of the school before and after the repairs follow as well as some of the cheeky children which are published with the permission of the school headmaster.




Bozalan School roof before repairs








the above two picures show the nursery classroom




the main classroom




this classroom could not be used because of the damp





yet another unused classroom only fit for storage



the main school corridor



outside toilet block





teachers house


And now....................




New roof and covered porch area




new woodburning stove located safety in the teachers room where the controls cannot be messed around with by the children



one of the new radiators in main classroom




one of the new radiators in nursery classroom - it is starting to dry out already





The school headmaster with the teaching staff, Director of Fetav Dilek Dincer and to the right 3C's committee and forum members Beep, Nalan and Liz101




the children




they don't have a lot to play with



one boy takes a drink from the water tank - the only water available during our visit -  note outside toilet block in the background



this little girl has 20 brothers/sisters but she cannot remember all their names!

[Highlander]

I sincerely hope someone can find the words to describe just how fantastic this is because I will struggle.

Awesome might do. Everyone involved should be justly proud.

PS Many, many thanks to pi55y for posting - I think we all know how long it takes to post photograph.s

[Scunner]

We hope to announce very shortly a CBF/3Cs joint project to help continue and hopefully complete this renovation - I requested (and have received) a list of things that will be needed/desired to change what has to be one of the most run down and threadbare schools into somewhere that can be enjoyed and as important utilised fully. The list contains everything from a map for the wall to new toilets, a few glove puppets to playground equipment and a telly.

I have said that I have no idea how much we can raise, and I do appreciate that there are many calls for assistance for local causes - and children being taught without basic items is one cause I find impossible to turn and look away from. We will give details of when and how we plan to organise raising money but I must tell you, I will not stop thinking of ways to try and prise a quid or two out of every person who has been freely given great experiences, help and memories from Turkey, it's people and of course from CBF   We have hopefully steered people clear of places that may have cost you more than you thought, and steered you towards good places and good deals. If we saved you £20 on a flight in 2006, we need £10 of that back now!!

Only kidding (apart from the bit about dreaming up countless ways of raising cash!). I will also be asking and if need be embarrassing local companies who have made a shedload out of CBF's huge "word of mouth" over the years without chipping anything in at all, to sponsor something specific (and big!). More to follow. 3Cs have many projects each year from which this is just one. This school is CBF's cause this year. Please support us for our special project 2012 - our first - which is turning Bozalan School into a rewarding and exciting place to be taught.

Thanks  

[ceni]

There are a few discount shops in Wrexham and last time I was in town one had really nice looking packs of felt tip pens or pencil and crayon sets, boxes of approx 50 bic style writing pens and big blocks of drawing paper ( hard to post over but I have a plan )..............would getting some of them be any good to the children?

[bewva]

All sounds good to me, well done to what has been a remarkable achievement so far by 3C's. Lets hope a joint project can get the job finished. I look forward to seeing how much we can collectively achieve.

[Anne]

Thank you Chrissy for posting.  
I'm dumbstruck at the conditions these children were being taught in.  How easy it would have been for the 3C's to walk away from such a mammoth task yet once again you took the bull by the horns and got stuck in.  The children must think they're in heaven having a warm, dry school.  I take my hat off to all of you.  No praise is enough for the work you do and Fethyie will be indebted to you for many years.  
Keith, I hope all those who've had their free adverts over the years dig deep to help. Perhaps a small fee for a plug at the begining of the season to start us off? Those children deserve the right to a decent education in a water tight building with working toilets and fresh drinking water.  It's not a lot to ask for in this day and age.
I know the might of CBF will pull together to make this happen asap.
Well done once again to everyone involved so far.

As an afterthought could this '2012 cause' have it's own section?

[Scunner]

I approached Chrissie last year with the idea of having a project that we could try and get CBF efforts into from the many they might have for 2012 - and mentioned that schools/kids was my personal cause, if anything along those lines was under consideration. I have seen a number of schools and nothing prepared me for the photos and descriptions of this one. I agree Anne, they are not asking for Playstations and home cinema systems - the priority things were/are indeed warmth, working toilets and dry rooms - and if we do well, some play dough and finger paints would be great!

I didn't think about a section for this project - it's a great idea Anne, I'll sort one tomorrow. There are businesses literally built on the back of CBF - free advertising and customers for 9 years now. I will be asking for something back this year   In fairness I must say that my experience of asking for sponsorship has been very positive in the past - it is almost like companies were more than pleased to help and had been waiting to be asked...

Don't worry, I'll be plugging every bar/restaurant/furniture shop/transfer company/builder/estate agent/tour company that help - not a small plug, a huge one. Please if any members know any of the above, please ask them if they will consider supporting our project - all you have to do is get them to say yes - if they say yes I am more than happy to take it from there. Would also be nice to see if any get in touch without being asked.

If this goes well, I would hope to have a CBF special project every year - perhaps with one of the other charities each year.

[sunlover]

Yet again Fantastic work form all concerned, makes a tear come to my eyes those children just look so happy yet have nothing...

i am sure there is going to be lots of people wanting to help with this project, maybe a list of things that they could do with that we could all bring over like has been said pens, pencils,books , etc or would it be better for us all to donate cash, and let the charity decide what is needed for them all.

i will certainly be up for whatever is best...how can you not want to help....

[Highlander]

quote:Originally posted by Scunner

I approached Chrissie last year with the idea of having a project that we could try and get CBF efforts into from the many they might have for 2012 - and mentioned that schools/kids was my personal cause, if anything along those lines was under consideration.

As they say in some parts "Go on yersel big man":D.

[mercury]

On the first visit one of the staff from Fetav went with Peter and Chrissie and some more committee and she cried at the state of this school and she has been in loads of the village schools. Liz our treasurer went this week and she says that the photos dont come close to showing how bad this place is!! and words cant describe it. We are used to seeing ru down schools but this has really kept some of us awake at night.