For whom: Ordu Akkuş Kargı Village school students
With whom: Kargı School Parent-Teacher Association and university students
When: 2012
Kargı Ferhat Akbulat Elementary School, which is the second stage of the Abandoned Rural Schools Project, consists of two buildings which are located at the foot of a mountain. When the old school building was insufficient because of the increasing population of the village, the villagers started to construct a new building with their own resources in order to avoid their children’s distribution to other schools in the near environment. Although the construction was interrupted because of the lack of resources, the new building was opened in order to start education. In this way the villagers had avoided the closure of the school. The second school building, which couldn’t be completed since four years, was forcing the students to receive education in an unhealthy and dangerous environment.
Architecture for All (HiM) applied in April to the Governorship of Ordu in order to find an adequate school to start a project. HiM learned the situation of Kargı Ferhat Akbulat Elementary School from Nevzat Türkkan (Ordu Provincial Director of National Education) and Kerim Yılmaz (Head of the Education Inspectors) with the guidance of the Deputy Governor Abdullah Demir. The association decided to complete the new school building and transform the old one into a library and mess hall. An open call was made from the website in order to find participants for the project and 180 people from various disciplines applied. 10 people chosen among the volunteers and project managers Hayrettin Günç, Emre Gündoğdu and Erdi Özenses were hosted by the villagers from August 24 to September 3, 2012. During 11 days of work, the necessary construction work (heat installation system, paint, boiler room, building insulation, etc.) of the school has been completed. The participants who worked in daytime with the craftsmen on the construction site, socialized in the evening with the villagers in activities like soldier’s farewell, film screenings in the school building or watching football match in the village coffee house. During the construction process Nevzat Türkkan (Ordu Provincial Director of National Education), Nevzat Akman (Akkuş District Director of National Education), Seyfettin Gül (Branch Chief of the Akkuş District Directorate of National Education) and Sedayi Altun (Former Branch Chief of the Akkuş District Directorate of National Education) visited Kargı and made on-site reviews. Architecture for All Team concluded the work on September 3 with a dinner, where Nevzat Akman was also invited. The association is planning to visit Kargı in the following days in order to finish the landscape organization of the school. The project was supported by the sponsorships of GYODER, STFA and Ali Özenses.
Here you can find the photo album of the workshop.
Participants: Emre Gündoğdu, Hayrettin Günç, Erdi Özenses, Giray Çıvak, Beyza Boyacıoğlu, Tuncer Çağrı Çakmur, Merve Güzel, Okan Özelmas, Uğur Latif Çelebi, Seyithan Özer, Şeyma Sarıbekiroğlu, Sırma Gül Mısır, Saliha Kılıç