JEDDAH, 23 November 2006 — As you wander the city of Jeddah these days, the “Bride of the Red Sea” seems pock-marked with public works trenches, mainly from the city’s ongoing effort to install sewage lines to replace buildings’ septic systems.
But this effort to improve living conditions in this port city of 2.3 million people has not come without some safety risks, especially in front of primary schools where flimsy orange plastic mesh is often the only barrier between a child and the bottom of a deep, sandy, potentially unstable trench.
In front of “Thinkers Tinkers” kindergarten school in Jeddah’s Al-Zahra District is one of these trenches where huge pipes lie between sand and grayish water. Children between three and five years old cross this trench via a narrow metal bridge. Two metal frames flank both sides of the bridge to serve as handrails, but the space in one of the frames is large enough for your average young child to fall through.
While nobody from the city was willing to answer attempts by Arab News to explain public-works safety procedures, teachers at one school were more than happy to discuss their problem.
“We were shocked last week that the digging started without even a previous notice calling us to be cautious, that we should keep an eye on the children when they come to or leave the school,” said Areej Fida, the headmistress of the school.
Fida pointed out that children are naturally curious and could easily peer too far over the edge of the bridge and fall. The bridge itself rocks slightly as people walk across it because it isn’t level or anchored. She said that she has called the municipality several times to know when the project would be completed, but nobody answered the phones.
“The bridge they installed is not safe at all for children,” said the headmistress. “I’m an adult and I can get through the bars and to the trench. These days I’m staying late at the school in order to hold the hand of each child over the bridge and to the car when he leaves the school.”
Nabila, a teacher and a mother of a student at the school, didn’t mince her words about the safety precautions, not to mention the noise of the ongoing project.
“This is a completely dangerous misery!” she said. “Students cannot concentrate in their classes anymore these days. They are distracted with every sound they hear and they fear it as they feel the floor shaking under their feet as an earthquake because the digging is so strong and close to the building.”
As students leave their school, they walk along the side of the trench and the orange plastic netting easily bows into the trench if pushed slightly.
The bridge makes the children feel like they might fall anytime unless there is someone older whom they can trust to hold their hands.
School staff wonder why the city or its contractors don’t plan these works in front of primary schools for times when the children aren’t in class, such as during the Ramadan and Haj breaks or the summer holiday season.
The project has also caused traffic congestion in front of the school as parents come to pick up their kids on a street that has been narrowed by the trench.
“When I or one of the children take more time to leave the car in order to walk carefully over the trench, drivers start honking because they do not follow any rules to respect pedestrians,” said Fida.
