In total, 35 students from the University of Castile-La Mancha (UCLM) are collaborating this week on the work of cleaning, recovery and provision of hygienic and sanitary equipment in the municipalities of Valencia most affected by DANA: Aldaia, Chiva and Utiel.
As UCLM reports in a press release, all were organized via WhatsApp and Google Forms in less than 24 hours and They were divided into seven cars to get there.. Once the groups were formed, they obtained 600 euros for cleaning equipment and hygiene products and set off.
It was Monday when the 35 young people, mostly students from Sciences of physical activity and sport (CAFYD) and physiotherapy -commanded by Hugo Manso Sanz, fourth year subdelegate of CAFYD- began their journey.
Aldaia, the “most difficult” destination
As Manso explains, “the first day we arrived in Utiel and we dedicated ourselves to cleaning the streets with the help of many residents of the town and the firefighters.” “What we saw on site far exceeded what we could see on television or on social media”he pointed out.
On the second day, in Chiva, they collaborated bail out water and clean streets and housesin one with “particular urgency” because the woman who lived there had breathing difficulties and was connected to an oxygen machine.
Finally, this Wednesday The destination was Aldaia and it was “the hardest”. “We spent over six hours in the basement of the clinic, lifting and lowering buckets and buckets full of papers, debris and cabinets,” said Manso, who thanked the group of military volunteers who coordinated and helped them, which allowed them to advance “twice as much”.
They will stay there until Sunday
In addition, they were also collecting water from an underground car park in very poor condition, with no light and little air; and helped with cleaning duties at a school. AND They will continue like this, for now, until Sunday.
As the University explained, some students will remain two rural houses that a neighbor left them of Caudete de las Fuentes, whom they thanked “from the bottom of their hearts”, and others will stay to sleep two municipal halls proposed by the Town Hall of this municipality and Cuevas de Utiel.
They also expressed their gratitude to the citizens of the cities in which they work, who They bring them food and offer to wash their boots. or lend them equipment.
The group of UCLM students traveled with the permission and support of the deans of their centers, who They were exempted from attending classes during these days and they lent them resources, such as hydroalcoholic gel to distribute to those affected.
Many requests for volunteers
Since the start of the disaster, the Vice-Rectorate for Culture, Sports and Social Responsibility has received countless offers from students and staff of UCLM to collaborate in whatever is necessary.
This vice-rectorate, led by César Sánchez Meléndez, coordinates requests with the aim of balancing the efforts that will be necessary over the coming weeks in the most affected areas. They have already been sent more than 10,000 masks, 50 sixty-liter bottles of disinfectant gel and glovesamong other products.
In addition to the thirty-five from CAFYD and Physiotherapy, Other UCLM students and workers traveled to affected areas in Albacete, Cuenca and Valencia. to lend a hand. At the same time, student delegations and numerous centers collaborate in the collection of food, clothing or cleaning and disinfection products.
