Al Rega school students receive much needed supplies

Photo By Staff Sgt. Ian M. Terry | Spc. Charly Arredondo, Company C, 2nd Battalion, 35th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, jokes with students after delivering school supplies in Al Rega, Samarra, Iraq.  

TIKRIT, IRAQ

04.08.2009

Story by Sgt. Ian M. Terry 

3rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division

TIKRIT, Iraq – Iraqi security forces teamed up with coalition forces to donate supplies to the students of the Al Rega School near Samarra, March 31.

First Lt. Daniel Flynn, a platoon leader in Company C, 2nd Battalion, 35th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, met with Maj. Adil Yusef Khalef, director general of internal affairs in the region, to coordinate the delivery of more than 200 backpacks filled with pens, pencils, paper and notepads.

Al Rega is in a remote and impoverished area of Samarra, and students are often without basic supplies.

Flynn, a former school teacher in his hometown of Wilmington, Ill., is passionate about education, and has taken the initiative to visit several schools throughout the Samarra area to learn how coalition and ISF can partner to better serve the educational community.

"We want to show the people of Al Rega that the government of Iraq really does care about them," said Flynn. "It is so important to take action on all the great things we have discussed. We can talk all day, but what really matters is getting out there and doing it."

The Al Rega School houses around 400 students, but does not have the logistical capacity to support them all at once. The schedule is currently divided into two sessions; younger children attend morning classes, and the middle school students attend in the afternoon.

"I foresee many good things for Al Rega," said Yasin Abas, the school's headmaster. "The people are not used to receiving help from the government, like they have recently. They are happy today. I think our best days are ahead of us, and not far off."

Flynn has an ongoing partnership with Abas, and together they are working on taking the steps necessary to build a second school and attract qualified teachers to seek employment in the area.

• Date Taken: 04.08.2009
• Date Posted: 04.08.2009 04:13
• Story ID: 32143
• Location: TIKRIT, IQ