One day at school....

One late evening I visited the local school on Bali Island. The high school building wall had crumbled away by the force of the water and wind. The Embankment near the school is currently being repaired, I can only imagine what the sight must have been 20 days back with water rising in to the ground floor of the school. Right against the left hand side of the building you see a lamp post uprooted and leaning against the building. But, its not a incredible sight, what is amazing to hear is that the lamp post was 200 ft away on the embankment. The force of the wind and water hurled it towards the building. The foundation of the lamp post is of concrete...so you will have to imagine. (Unfortunately I could not take any pictures at this school as it was pitch dark and the light was not enough)

The school has a huge crack on its newly constructed wing. The assistant headmaster showed us the gash that ran from the first floor of the building to the ground. The ground floor was completely flooded, the water taking with it the text books for the coming year. The building at present cannot be used as it deemed unsafe. Hard to determine if it was only the force of water and wind that did it or maybe the construction in itself was in question. Hard to say.

School book on the side of the road

Today, is the last day for the people who have taken shelter in the Bali High School to leave the premises. School was supposed to start June 8th but was delayed for a week. What is to happen to these folks, they do not have their huts. If a lamp post can be thrown hundreds of feet; one can imagine what happens to a hut made of mud and straw. Its scatters into the wind and with it the contents of the house.

(a little girl wandering around - in the area, would not say much when we spoke to her)

The children in such areas are affected the most. They are most vulnerable group. Physically they are prone to diseases, and mentally their stability is taken away from them. I read somewhere long back that a sense of normalcy has to be returned to the children as soon as possible. It gives them a sense of security and they are better able to cope with the effects of the calamity.

(Finally they told us they were in Class II and Class III)

With schools closed (not clear when they will open), text books washed away the future at present looks a bleak.

The other non-formal school right near the Nature camp is also destroyed. The complete floor of the school has given away. The mud floor has eroded away and joined the canal waters. Only the outer structure remains. A make-shift school in one of the community rooms is a start to bring some sense of norm to the kids.

The school floor now closer the river

So along with nourishment, medicines and clothes for the children, much needed school supplies and materials are also needed. Schools need to be started where possible, hard to do right now when there are not many permanent structures in the area. But, on the list of to do this ought to be somewhere on the top.