In the thick of it – Geberit apprentices in India

Varanasi in the northeast of India was the scene of Geberit’s 2014 social project. At the end of October, eight apprentices, a technical manager and a supervisor traveled to the city with 1.2 million inhabitants for two weeks in order to renovate the sanitary facilities in the Kiran Village, a center for around 300 disabled children and young people.

The Kiran Village was founded in 1990 by a Swiss nun who recognized the enormous need for a facility for physically disabled children in the region. Today, some 60 children live in the Kiran Village, and around 300 travel to the village each day to attend the school there or complete an apprenticeship. The majority of the children and young people suffer from polio and need walking aids, which are manufactured in the village’s own orthopedic workshop.

The Geberit team lived and worked in the Kiran Village for two weeks, which enabled them to experience everyday life in the village at first hand. By the end of the visit, the sanitary facilities had been renovated, with toilets for disabled persons now making the life of the villagers a whole lot easier.

“I cannot explain how India is. You have to experience it for yourself,” explains Florian Pohl, apprentice industrial tool mechanic at Geberit in Jona (CH) – an enthusiastic participant in Geberit’s 2014 social project and a further ambassador for a social commitment that Geberit has been proudly supporting for years.

Worldwide social projects with Geberit apprentices

India 2014:

Kiran Village, Varanasi

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Romania 2013:

Hospice Casa Sperantei, Bucharest

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South Africa 2012:

Fontein School, Port Elizabeth

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Serbia 2011:

Schools in Kraljevo

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India 2010:

Pentakatha School, Puri

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Solomon Islands 2009:

Island Guadalcanal

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Ecuador 2008:

Colegio Pomasqui, Quito

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