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KUNDUZ, Afghanistan – As the Ramadan observance comes to a close, the people of Afghanistan begin a celebration known as Eid ul-Fitr. Commonly, children receive gifts such as new clothes or candies to mark the end of the Islamic holy month of fasting.
The many orphaned children at the Kunduz City orphanage do not normally have the opportunity to take part in this celebration. This year, Capt. Tony Hampton of 1st Battalion, 87th Infantry Regiment from the 10th Mountain Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team, along with soldiers of Charlie Company delivered gifts to the orphanage to celebrate with the children, Sept. 7.
“It’s customary in this country for children to receive gifts, clothing and candies so they can also have a celebration during this holiday,” Hampton said. “I wanted to help those children celebrate and brighten up their day.”
Numerous boxes of clothing, shoes, toys and stuffed animals were given to the orphans. Hampton said he contacted many different organizations in the United States who dug in their own closets or spent their own money to buy supplies.
“I have been receiving clothing and toys and shoes and socks from places all over the United States,” he said.
Just by putting the word out about the orphanage, Hampton received boxes from various groups and families. Workers from an organization in Mississippi even bought coloring books and crayons for the children.
“If you tell them you want to give to an orphanage, people will send,” Hampton said. “Many of those clothes were from people’s closets that their children can no longer wear. Instead of throwing them out, give them to some children who will appreciate receiving them.”
During the visit, Hampton and 1st Lt. Steven Solaja, a platoon leader with C. Company, spoke to the director of the orphanage about their needs.
“The director kept saying his desire is to teach these kids so they don’t grow up and join the Taliban and that they do have an opportunity to pursue wanting to be a doctor or a teacher,” Hampton explained. “But, they have all those children and no room to teach them in, that really struck me.”
Outside the school, no playground equipment can be found. Hampton hopes the soldiers of 1-87 can help him build a swing set for the children to play on.
“They don’t even have a playground to play on,” he said. “Children just want to be children. If we could give them a simple swing they can do that.”
Right now, his main focus is to provide funds to the orphanage to buy food for the children and to buy fuel for the employees of the orphanage to travel to and from work.
Hampton said the orphanage asked for fuel for the teachers. Although he cannot provide fuel himself, Hampton thinks he can write various groups and ask for some funding. This way, he can present a gift to them to where they can buy the fuel that they need to get to and from work to help the children.
He hopes that for the next six months that he is in Afghanistan, the orphanage will not have to question whether it will have fuel or not.
Seeing the gratefulness and appreciation on the faces of the children when they were given a new shirt or a toy left a big impression on the hearts of the Soldiers from C Company
“Many of soldiers are going to ask their families to send old clothes and stuff that we can give to the children,” said Hampton. “The reason I try to get soldiers involved is because seeing what other people are going through and the conditions in which they are living in should inspire any human being to help those who are less fortunate. I’m glad that those guys got to see for themselves what it’s like to give a gift to a child in need.”
Hampton and C Company plan to visit the orphanage at least once a month bearing more gifts before they redeployed back to Fort Drum next year.
| Date Taken: | 09.07.2010 |
| Date Posted: | 09.15.2010 12:36 |
| Story ID: | 56316 |
| Location: | KUNDUZ, AF |
| Web Views: | 164 |
| Downloads: | 10 |
This work, Afghan Orphans Receive Gifts from Soldiers, by SGT Blair Neelands, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
