Coalition forces deliver aid, smiles to orphanage

05.07.2007

Courtesy Story

Combined Joint Task Force - 82 PAO

By Pfc. Micah Clare
4th Brigade Combat Team Public Affairs Office

FORWARD OPERATING BASE GHAZNI, Afghanistan - Mosaa or "Tohid" as the other orphans call him, is a tiny Afghan boy in a woolen sweater who usually doesn't have reason to smile. Mosaa hasn't had any family since he was dropped off at an orphanage when he was just a year old. But a visit from coalition forces, March 10, brought a huge grin to the 3-year-old boy's face, along with the 75 other orphans living there.

Paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division's 2nd Batallion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment and the 413th Civil Affairs Team brought school supplies, clothing and candy to the Ghazni city orphanage while conducting medical follow-ups on the children there.

As partners with the Ghazni Ministry of Health, the newly arrived paratroopers took over from the previous unit in the "adoption" of the orphanage," said Army Maj. Ramey Wilson, the 2nd Battalion surgeon.

Wilson checked the children for typhoid, upper respiratory infections and other infectious diseases.

When the children had finished with their examinations, members of the 413th were standing by to hand out candy and other goodies.

"Go ahead and take more," said Army 2nd Lt. Jason Campbell, team leader for the 413th Civil Affairs team, wishing the little boy Mosaa could understand him as the boy reservedly took a few pieces of candy from a box.

The children were also given backpacks full of school supplies after they got their candy.

The orphanage, which is also a school for kindergarten through sixth-grade students, has needed these supplies for teaching, said Masooma Sharaf, a first-grade teacher at the orphanage.

"We appreciate you so much," she said to the paratroopers handing out the items to the children.
"They all are acting so well-behaved and polite," Campbell remarked as the orderly line of children dispersed to get back to their math studies.

There are millions of children who were left orphaned after many years of hardship in Afghanistan, said Fatima Hotaki, a cultural advisor to the 2nd Bn., 508th PIR. Without such places to care for and educate them, the children would be trying to earn their living in the streets.

"Afghanistan's future is with the children," Hotaki said. "They need an identity, to know who they are and where they come from. They won't have a chance for that begging on the streets."

The government and the 2nd Bn., 508th PIR will continue to work together on this orphanage, through medical mentoring, seminars, and continued medical aid, said Wilson.

"Our goal is that by the time we leave here, we'll have the care of this orphanage turned over wholly to the government," he said.

• Date Taken: 05.07.2007
• Date Posted: 05.07.2007 10:27
• Story ID: 10249