In North Bosnia and Herzegovina where Sava, one of the longest rivers in Europe runs, the situation was the most serious. Most villages and cities under water for weeks. One small village, Gornja Slatina, was spared from the floods. But, as the disaster got worse around them, classes in the local primary school were suspended so that people whose homes were destroyed by floods could use their classrooms as shelter.
“Municipality officials called us to open the school and receive evacuated people,” remembers Cvijeta Jović, the school’s principal. “Around 200 people [found shelter in] the school. These were older people, mostly disabled and sick who needed additional care,” she adds.
But, the school was never built to be home to hundreds of people. There was not enough space, not enough toilets and no showers at all. On top of that, the roof was leaking. It wasn’t long before swarms of flies started appearing. The hygienic conditions became very bad and the situation took its toll on the already 48-year-old school. People had to bath in classrooms which then destroyed the floors. Due to the large number of residents, the school bathrooms were not in any better condition.
“I thought, ‘if this continues…. how will children go to school again?’” remembers Elvedin Eminovic from World Vision Bosnia and Herzegovina who visited school at that time to distribute food and hygiene packages to displaced people and saw the situation.
“They already lost one month of school work in May,” points out the principal, who was worried about the education of her students. “Although we worked very hard during those two weeks, opening of the school on time would have not been possible to without support and help of World Vision,” she continues.
Through World Vision’s flood response project, focusing on sanitation and health for people affected by the floods, supported by United Kingdom, the school’s sanitation system was rebuilt. The school was also repainted on the inside and the outside and new windows and gutters were installed.
“Thank you for painting our school yellow!” smiles one of the students in school’s hallway. Except for the still damaged floors you would not be able to tell that school was home to 200 people for more than three months.
(Source: worldvision)
