Oxfam GB :: Oxfam in action - Success stories: Turning the tap on in the West Bank: New school facilities

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New school facilities

A new toilet block has improved life for pupils at Raba Village Girls' School.

Raba Village Girls' School

This is Raba Village Girls' School, which has 420 students. Oxfam has renovated the school's sanitary block, replacing a toilet block which was on the brink of collapse.

Previously pupils were forced to either use the teachers' bathroom or go home if they wanted to use the toilet. Many cut down on drinking in the day because they didn't want their studies to be interrupted, although this could have long-term health implications.

Photo: Alan Gignoux

Turning the tap on in the West Bank

Clean water is at a premium in the West Bank, where people live under the strain of the continuing occupation.

How Oxfam is helping

Regular giving

Sujat washing her hands in the new Oxfam sinks. Photo: Alan Gignoux

New sinks

Meet Sujat. She is washing her hands in sink in the new toilet block. The sink has enough room for up to ten girls to use at one time. Water for the unit is collected in rooftop tanks as there is no water network in the village. The new unit cost $18,000, of which $11,000 was paid for by Oxfam, using funding from the Humanitarian Aid Department of the European Commission.

Photo: Alan Gignoux

What a difference

Here, Oxfam's Nablus-based project officer Kahramana Jarrar meets the girls at the school to talk about the impact the new sanitary block has had on their lives.

Anwar, aged 13, says: "We were afraid to enter the old building because it was about to collapse. Also there were not enough units. The new block has made things easier for us. I enjoy my studies because I want to be a doctor when I grow up. I want to help people."

Photo: Alan Gignoux

Much improved

Sejha Bashar, aged 12, says "before the new sanitary block was installed at the school there used to be very long queues.

"Things are much better now than before. We are much happier. The water comes from the taps and then goes to irrigate the garden. I want to be a children's doctor one day."

Photo: Alan Gignoux

Impact on staff

Secretary of the school Huda Ameen Hafeth (far right) says that the new sanitary block has improved the lives of the staff as well as the pupils.

"The impact is not only on the students but also the teachers. It's really good for us because the children are psychologically much more relaxed. The teachers are unhappy if they are always worried about the welfare of the children."

Photo: Alan Gignoux

Watering the garden

The waste water running from the sinks in the new sanitary block is not wasted and it is piped to irrigate the school's garden. The children care for the garden in their free time at school.

Photo: Alan Gignoux