Cosmin Chitu, a Romanian former student ‘development instructor’ at the Tvind school DRH Norway, has claimed he almost lost an eye in an accident while working there in 2011 and raised serious questions about the school’s health and safety procedures.
In an account sent to this website, Mr Chitu says a a 1.7cm piece of metal from a rotary device pierced his eye while he was cleaning used-clothing containers. After treatment, Chitu has been told he has permanent damage to the eye and has undergone four operations. Chitu alleges he was given no training to use the machinery, told to use the wrong device to clean the contaners and advised to remove safety goggles, at the time of the accident in June 2011.
After the extent of his injuries became apparent, he was taken for surgery to hospitals in Trondheim and Oslo. While in hospital in Trondheim, Chitu says, he was not contacted by the school or by anyone at Humana People-to-People. “The school’s headmasters didn’t even call to the hospital to check my status. I sent an email to my teacher with a very detailed description of my situation and I also asked her why the school is not showing any signs. This is a quote from her reply: “I am sorry that we did not march collectively into the hospital to pay you a visit. Don’t be unfair!”.
It has since emerged that the school did not have proper health insurance, Chitu claims, and the school will not offer compansation or meet any medical expenses. The school did not report the accident to police or to the Norwegian Labour Protection Institute (Arbeidstilsynet), as Norwegian law requires. Chitu writes: “How is it possible that a humanitarian organization which has the only purpose to help the others can break the laws so easily? How can they disregard human beings without the slightest remorse? How could they not implement safety measures after all the tragedies that occurred in that place? “I felt very alone during my three weeks in hospital. I felt abandoned by the people with whom I was eating, the people for whom I was working, the people that I trusted and I needed so much.”
Chitu is considering contacting lawyers, but says he is currently receiving little help from Norwegian police or offical authorities to address the situation. In 2010, a DRH Norway volunteer died and another was seriously injured while collecting clothes for DRH Norway in a serious road accident near Trondheim. This is Cosmin Chitu’s account, which he has called ‘A Modern Fairy Tale from Norway’. I have asked for a response from DRH Norway.
