KABUL, Afghanistan – The Ud Khel High School reopened its doors for the new school year following the March 21 celebration of Nowruz, the new year holiday in Afghanistan and other parts of the region.
In keeping with the unit’s continued support to the village of Ud Khel, the 1/181st Infantry Regiment, along with their partners through Operation Outreach Afghanistan out of Camp Phoenix, delivered school supplies for the students and their teachers March 26.
Soldiers of 3rd Platoon, Headquarters and Headquarters Company, who left Camp Phoenix before dawn to arrive at the school before class, secured the area while members of 2nd Platoon delivered the supplies by light medium tactical vehicle escorted by two Humvees.
After the dozen boxes of supplies were brought in and placed in the hallway, Vice Principal Mohammed Jan, a graduate of Kabul University who has been teaching for 22 years, helped separate the supplies in each box with help from fellow teachers, 3rd Platoon Leader 2nd Lt. Christopher Ocasio and U.S. Linguist Amir in preparation for the distribution of the supplies.
“It’s really hard for us to understand because it is so different, but the high school actually serves all the kids in Ud Khel from age 7 to 18,” said Ocasio. “The teacher’s salaries and some supplies are paid for by the government, but the desks are on loan from Paktika province and there’s no electricity in the school right now, though they have the wiring for it. We’re working on getting that for them now.”
As the students who were lined up outside by classroom filed into the hallway, teachers and soldiers alike handed out the supplies one-by-one until all the classes were filled and the soldiers returned to camp.
“I definitely saw some smiles,” said Pfc. David Alves, one of the soldiers who helped pass out writing utensils to the students. “A lot of the kids didn’t even show up with pens,” he said.
By the time each grade school student walked into class that morning they were ready to learn, now armed with a handful of pens and pencils, a box of crayons and a notebook in their hands.
Teachers also received several useful supplies including chalk, rulers, glue, construction paper, art supplies, an English dictionary and English and math books.
| Date Taken: | 03.26.2011 |
| Date Posted: | 03.27.2011 09:30 |
| Story ID: | 67804 |
| Location: | KABUL, AF |
| Web Views: | 476 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, 1/181 Infantry soldiers help school principal supply students and teachers, by SGT Michael Broughey, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
