Alvan Tsarik Educational Centre, Armenia Visit to the project of alvan tsarik in Armenia: July 24 th to August 6 th 2017. The project at Mayakowski Street in Gyumri, Armenia was visited by Cor van den Bogaard, treasurer of foundation Het Bosje, 1
Background In December 2016 Foundation Het Bosje agreed to support alvan tsarik in The Netherlands by providing the money to buy a house in Mayakowski street in Gyumri, Armenia, and an additional loan to prepare this house for educational purposes for preschool and also for adult education. Alvan tsarik will be the owner and make the educational centre available at Alvan Tsarik Armenia at no additional costs. Purpose of the visit was to monitor the progress of the building process of the house in Mayakowski Street in Gyumri and to discuss the development of the building of the organisation of Alvan Tsarik Armenia. Alongside this some actual work was done on the installation of a lowered ceiling in some rooms and other tasks were executed. Special attention was paid to the ventilation system keeping in mind the results of Technasium groups at the secondary school in Duiven (The Netherlands). The visit was made at the same time with the chairman of alvan tsarik in the Netherlands and 8 other volunteers from The Netherlands. Work already done on arrival 24 July 2017. At our arrival already a lot of work was done by Alvan Tsarik Armenia according the plans that were accorded before. At the ground level the floors were covered with a cement layer after egalisation with pumice stone. Windows with synthetic frames were placed. Preparations were made for the heating system and the ventilation system. To facilitate the workers a toilet was provisionally made as well as a shower. Water, electricity and gas were already connected. A beginning was made with the entrance at the side of the building. The big double iron door here will later be replaced by a wide synthetic window frame with windows that can be opened. Walls and ceiling here still have to be done as well as toilets for children. 2
Most work had been done at the second level as this was meant to be the first place to receive the children for preschool education. A new staircase was made outside at the side of the intended play garden, to have two accesses to the second floor also for safety reasons. Dividing walls were placed to create 3 big rooms and a central hall. Doors were hanged to close of the rooms. In the central hall also rooms were made for toilets for children (boys and girls separated) and a toilet room for adults. At the ceiling pipes were installed for the ventilation system. 3
The ventilators were installed in the toilet room for the children and outlets made to the roof. At this second storey the floors were more or less ready, most of the walls prepared, connections made for electricity, water and heating. For the roof, to be reached by a big round hole in the central entrance at the second floor, the floor the attic was filled with pumice stone and isolated. Also windows with synthetic frames were placed to close of the dormers in the attic. Otherwise the roof with iron corrugated pates, supported by a wooden construction, was left as it was. 4
Work done during the visit at the project in Gyumri: July 24 th to August 6 th During this visit in Gyumri the walls at the second floor were prepared further by the Armenian workers so they could be painted by the volunteers from The Netherlands and from Armenia. Materials were obtained for a lowered ceiling at this floor and this was installed in 2 of the three rooms by the volunteers. For the third room only halve of this work could be done as there were not enough materials available. These had to be ordered from abroad. The paid workers adjusted the ventilation pipes in the first two rooms to get the connections exactly in the middle of the ceilingtiles. They also put in one room already the lights in the ceiling so we could see the result of this. 5
In two rooms switches and sockets were placed In the wall. All three rooms were prepared for a sink by putting some tiles. In this way workers and volunteers worked together by supplementing each others work. Also breaks and lunches were taken together. Besides laminate flooring and the installation of the heating system, two out of the three rooms at this floor were ready to be furnished with drawers, tables and chairs. 6
In the bathrooms in the central hall tiles were fitted on the floors and on the walls. Furniture and equipment: In the meantime furniture and other equipment to be used in this educational Centre was collected from storage rooms in other places in Gyumri. 7
Volunteers cleaned most of this material and sorted out the different items. For the time being these were stored in the ground floor until it could be placed in the rooms at the second floor or shared with other schools related to Alvan Tsarik. Other equipment will be placed in the rooms downstairs especially for adult education like courses on English, ICT or the new to build technical education Technasium. Ventilation System: Preparations for the ventilation systems were made. Already pipes and ventilators were placed at the second floor as were the outlets next to the roof. Meant was to blow in fresh air separately in the three classrooms and in the toilet rooms. No special provisions were made for extraction of used air as they were of the opinion that non-intended openings in the outer wall and the windows would be sufficient for this. We discussed the situation and argued about wintertime when all opening are closed to keep cold outside. At the end we agreed that a separate extraction system for used air was necessary and decided to extract air by the toilet rooms. Since already room below the doors at the classrooms were foreseen only minor changes have to be done such as openings in the doors leading to the toilet rooms and change the position of the outlet at the outer wall as well as turning around the ventilator to extract the air from the toilet rooms. As the building proved to be well isolated no cooling down by ventilation is needed. In wintertime most likely it will be necessary to warm the outside air before it can be blown into the classrooms. Further 8
study is needed to find the most suitable installation for this, preferably combined with the heating system and/or solar installation. 9
Main activities still to be done to finish the work. Second floor: Finishing ceiling and walls in the central entrance by plastering and painting, finishing toilet rooms by installing sinks and toilets. Finishing classrooms. The opening to the roof in the ceiling has to be closed partially and folding stairs fit in the covering of this opening. Doors to the outside have to be finished and the balcony fenced off. Heating system, on gas, has to be installed. Ground floor: Here still most work has to be done like finishing of walls and ceiling by plastering, finishing the floor, putting heating systems, electricity, water and ventilation and painting. Finish toilet rooms and bathroom. Also the main entrance at the side has to be reinforced as the outer wall is insufficient here. They also intend to enlarge this entrance to the back to fit a small kitchen. The double doors at the front side have to be removed and replaced by a big window. The metal doors will be used in the wall of the play garden as a nice entrance. Roof: As the wooden support construction is not so good and not strong enough for solar panels and/or hot water system, this has to be replaced by a metal structure. The corrugation plates are of good quality and can be re-used. Later it can be made fit for storage room. 10
Yard: The old house and sheds occupying most of the yard have to be removed to make room for a playing ground. A new outside wall for the yard has to be build with the old entrance port of the building to become the new entrance. Because of probably asbestos containing corrugation on the roofs is decided the removal of the old housing and sheds not to do by volunteers. So for this job extra money will be needed. The neighbouring house does not have its own access to the street and the users have to pass on the yard that now belongs to alvan tsarik. The house is of the same bad quality as the old building and sheds adjacent to the house of alvan tsarik. Now the owner of that house is offering to sell that house. I have advised to alvan tsarik to buy this house if the price is alright. Arguments for this are to avoid problems with neighbours, not to have other people with access to the yard and to have more playing ground for the children. Two meetings attended First was the meeting of the local organisation of Alvan Tsarik, members of alvan tsarik from The Netherlands and board members. Most important item on the agenda was the future organisation of Alvan Tsarik in Gyumri. One agreed on a organizational structure in three layers. The executive unit of Alvan Tsarik responsible for the daily work, the staff (persons paid by Alvan Tsarik) and an advisory board of wise people that has to approve the plans for the coming year and control afterwards the actual work done. The director of the executive unit will be the secretary of the advisory board and in this way being the linking pin. The desired structure has to be checked against the local law and the existing statute of the organisation. Also was decided to formally open the school in October after class(-es) have been started in September in order to get more publicity. Education for adults, English, ICT, Social courses and technical education (Technasium) will be started later. There is a need to start as soon as possible in order to earn money for local salaries. Het Bosje will be invited to attend this opening festivity. Also was decided to look into the possibilities to buy the neighbours house. The biggest problem will be to find the money needed. A second meeting was with a local NGO that is stimulating use of solar panels within the framework of environmental protection. Discussed were the needs and possibilities for alvan tsarik to provide in this way at least partly for electricity and or hot water for heating also. The intention is to start with a small scale installation and to enlarge this when necessary and also the money needed can be found. Additional information will be gathered in order to make definitive decisions on this matter. The building has to be reinforced to make it sufficient strong for solar panels. 11
Conclusion Already a lot of work has been done according the approved plans and within the financial agreements. Especially the second floor will be for the most part done at the end of August, in time to start with one or two classes of children in September. But still a lot of work has to be done at the first floor and outside by clearing the premises of the building. Alvan Tsarik took care of the necessary furniture and equipment needed to furnish the rooms and material to give preschool education. Unplanned work has to still be done for reinforcing the roof, clearing the old buildings and sheds and obtaining the desired solar panels and/or hot water system. Extra money for this has to be found. Also the provision of a small kitchen at the ground floor was not planned for. Also extra money is needed to buy the neighbouring house and if so to remove that building. Further work is needed to improve and reinforce the local organisation in order to become more self reliant and independent from alvan tsarik in the Netherlands. A first step could be to buy the neighbouring house. Everybody was very much satisfied with the work done and the results obtained so far. The organisation is glad to be able to start classes for children already in September this year. 12