Posted on 09/08/2009 6:20:07 PM PDT by SandRat
KIRKUK — The once shattered windows of the Burhiema Primary School here are now intact, and through them, the children of Burhiema village can be seen smiling as they dig through bags of new school supplies.
The school — once abandoned because of its poor condition — is once again filled with life and optimism as children returned from their summer vacations, Sept. 2, to find their local Iraqi Police, assisted by Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, waiting to greet them with a few surprises.
The IP and Soldiers distributed 150 bags of school supplies to the students, and donated 5,000 pencils to the school.
“These school supplies are so important for the students,” said Basim Al Hoodba, the headmaster of the school.
Hoodba said he was concerned about his ability to teach this year because of a lack of school supplies
“Without these supplies, we couldn’t do classes with the students,” he said.
This is not the first time that U.S. Soldiers have helped this school. First Lt. Patrick Merriss, a platoon leader with 1st Bn., 8th Cav. Regt., assisted in the school supply delivery with the IP and was also here early last spring with his platoon during some structural renovations to the school.
The platoon helped replaced shattered windows, repaired damage to the roof, fixed desks and repainted portions of the school, explained Merriss.
“The situation before the renovation was very bad,” Hoodba said. “The school was abandoned; no students were coming because it was pretty much destroyed.”
But the renovations did more than just revive the school; they reminded the community that IP and U.S. Soldiers are here to help.
“It’s important to see us out in sector helping people,” said Merriss. “It reinforces that we are here to do good things, not bad.”
Merriss believes that outside influences like the media often report on the negative, but they are failing to see the whole scope of combined operations.
“We do a lot to help keep people in the area safe,” he said.
People in the community were glad to see that U.S. forces were accompanied by their Iraqi partners.
“It’s very necessary to see U.S. forces out and supporting our forces,” said Hoodba. “We like to see our forces going out on patrols and in the area with the U.S.”
“We do everything together, combined with the ISF,” said Merriss.
No pictures???? Why, why, why do they post articles like these with NO pictures???!
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