Prague Flood Appeal For Schools

Prague Flood Appeal For Schools

MatheMagic in Prague

This picture was taken in Prague during the devastating summer floods which swept through Eastern Europe.John Bibby, MatheMagic's director, was in Prague during the floods and met one of our contacts, Vaclav Sneberger, from the 'Step by Step' programme. Vaclav works closely with many schools in the Czech Republic and knew how much they needed help. When John returned to the UK we began the appeal. York, like Prague, has a river running through it, and has seen some devastating floods over the years, so we felt the people of York would empathise with the situation in the Czech Republic. Over 50 schools in the city of Prague were flooded, and countless more throughout the country. They needed short term, practical aid. The summer holiday closure had been extended until the beginning of October, and we made that our deadline.
Such a short-term appeal needed to be easy to manage, so we kept our 'shopping list' simple; writing and drawing materials and toys. BBC North Yorkshire gave us all the support we needed, broadcasting the appeal regularly, and asking not just for donations but also for transport. Without their help, we wouldn't have got so far so quickly. By the last week in September we had a mounting supply of equipment in storage, from donations large and small. P&O had promised us a ferry crossing from Hull to Zeebrugge, and out of the blue Neil Dunning and Ian Britton offered to take all the materials out to Prague in their large van, with me as a passenger. We called in a team of volunteers, and in a single afternoon packed up 40 boxes ready for transit.
We set sail from Hull on Friday September 26th, had a perfect crossing, and drove through Belgium, Holland and Germany, reaching the Czech border at lunchtime on Sunday September 29th. It took us nearly three hours to cross Prague, with roads closed, and some very confusing diversions. We learned later that even the local people didn't know from day to day which roads would be open. Only two bridges across the River Vltava were open. By late afternoon, we reached the offices of 'Step by Step'. We had arrived!

I said goodbye to Ian and Neil on Sunday evening; they went on to finish their week's holiday in the Czech republic. On Monday morning Vaclav had arranged for me to see two schools in one of the hardest hit districts of Prague. Both schools serve communities with large populations of Roma children, and house kindergartens, after school clubs and sports facilities. Both schools had just been renovated. These pictures show the devastation to what had been refurbished facilities just waiting for the new school year to start. The flood water, heavily polluted with sewage,had risen through the first floor and had not receded for four days. Consequently, before any work could be carried out, the area had to be de-contaminated and everything that had been underwater destroyed. Walls were stripped down to bare bricks and foundations were dug out to a depth of one and a half meters. The smell of damp bricks permeated the atmosphere. This was the scene in every building in central Prague that had been reached by the flood waters.

When I visited the schools, I took samples of the equipment we had brought, leaving the bulk of the boxes to be sorted and distributed by Vaclav and his colleagues.Teamwork Marketing had generously donated a large quantity of bags, crayons, rulers and games and, with paper and exercise books, we had made up over 900 individual packs for the schools, as well as boxes of bulk materials for the schools to use as needed. We thought that if we could just provide drawing and writing materials it would be a start, and the directors of both schools were delighted. Although insurance claims were being pursued and there would be government help for schools, they really needed the short term, practical help we had given. And they were touched that people across the other side of Europe had cared enough to contribute to the appeal.

All too soon it was time to come home. I flew from Prague on Tuesday morning, after little more than a day in the city. This picture was taken during that day, when the sun was shining and the River Vltava flowed sedately through one of the most beautiful cities in Europe. The tourists are coming back to Prague now, the horsedrawn carriages carry them round the city, the famous clock still draws a crowd when it chimes on the hour. But behind the facades, away from the tourist centre, it will be months, if not years, before Prague repairs the damage caused by the floods. During the weekend I was there, workers had just finished pumping out the underground, with trains not expected to resume a full service until early next year. The appeal gave me the chance to meet some wonderful people, and proved that communities can work together to produce remarkable results. Help came from large organisations such as BBC North Yorkshire and P&O Ferries and from local businesses. Burton Stone and Tang Hall Community Centres acted as our collection points. But most of all, the individual donations, a lot of them from children, made up the heart of the appeal. MatheMagic would like to thank everyone who helped. You really did make a difference.

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	This picture was taken in Prague during the devastating summer floods which swept through Eastern Europe.John Bibby, MatheMagic's director, was in Prague during the floods and met one of our contacts, Vaclav Sneberger, from the 'Step by Step' programme. Vaclav works closely with many schools in the Czech Republic and knew how much they needed help. When John returned to the UK we began the appeal. York, like Prague, has a river running through it, and has seen some devastating floods over the years, so we felt the people of York would empathise with the situation in the Czech Republic. Over 50 schools in the city of Prague were flooded, and countless more throughout the country. They needed short term, practical aid. The summer holiday closure had been extended until the beginning of October, and we made that our deadline.
Such a short-term appeal needed to be easy to manage, so we kept our 'shopping list' simple; writing and drawing materials and toys. BBC North Yorkshire gave us all the support we needed, broadcasting the appeal regularly, and asking not just for donations but also for transport. Without their help, we wouldn't have got so far so quickly. By the last week in September we had a mounting supply of equipment in storage, from donations large and small. P&O had promised us a ferry crossing from Hull to Zeebrugge, and out of the blue Neil Dunning and Ian Britton offered to take all the materials out to Prague in their large van, with me as a passenger. We called in a team of volunteers, and in a single afternoon packed up 40 boxes ready for transit.
	We set sail from Hull on Friday September 26th, had a perfect crossing, and drove through Belgium, Holland and Germany, reaching the Czech border at lunchtime on Sunday September 29th. It took us nearly three hours to cross Prague, with roads closed, and some very confusing diversions. We learned later that even the local people didn't know from day to day which roads would be open. Only two bridges across the River Vltava were open. By late afternoon, we reached the offices of 'Step by Step'. We had arrived!
I said goodbye to Ian and Neil on Sunday evening; they went on to finish their week's holiday in the Czech republic. On Monday morning Vaclav had arranged for me to see two schools in one of the hardest hit districts of Prague. Both schools serve communities with large populations of Roma children, and house kindergartens, after school clubs and sports facilities. Both schools had just been renovated. These pictures show the devastation to what had been refurbished facilities just waiting for the new school year to start. The flood water, heavily polluted with sewage,had risen through the first floor and had not receded for four days. Consequently, before any work could be carried out, the area had to be de-contaminated and everything that had been underwater destroyed. Walls were stripped down to bare bricks and foundations were dug out to a depth of one and a half meters. The smell of damp bricks permeated the atmosphere. This was the scene in every building in central Prague that had been reached by the flood waters.
	When I visited the schools, I took samples of the equipment we had brought, leaving the bulk of the boxes to be sorted and distributed by Vaclav and his colleagues.Teamwork Marketing had generously donated a large quantity of bags, crayons, rulers and games and, with paper and exercise books, we had made up over 900 individual packs for the schools, as well as boxes of bulk materials for the schools to use as needed. We thought that if we could just provide drawing and writing materials it would be a start, and the directors of both schools were delighted. Although insurance claims were being pursued and there would be government help for schools, they really needed the short term, practical help we had given. And they were touched that people across the other side of Europe had cared enough to contribute to the appeal.
All too soon it was time to come home. I flew from Prague on Tuesday morning, after little more than a day in the city. This picture was taken during that day, when the sun was shining and the River Vltava flowed sedately through one of the most beautiful cities in Europe. The tourists are coming back to Prague now, the horsedrawn carriages carry them round the city, the famous clock still draws a crowd when it chimes on the hour. But behind the facades, away from the tourist centre, it will be months, if not years, before Prague repairs the damage caused by the floods. During the weekend I was there, workers had just finished pumping out the underground, with trains not expected to resume a full service until early next year. The appeal gave me the chance to meet some wonderful people, and proved that communities can work together to produce remarkable results. Help came from large organisations such as BBC North Yorkshire and P&O Ferries and from local businesses. Burton Stone and Tang Hall Community Centres acted as our collection points. But most of all, the individual donations, a lot of them from children, made up the heart of the appeal. MatheMagic would like to thank everyone who helped. You really did make a difference.