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FARAH, Afghanistan — Though the sky was dreary and the temperature was down, the happy chatter of the young students in the Farah City Fourth District Girls School warmed the hearts of the Farah Provincial Reconstruction Team members who visited them today.
U.S. Navy Cmdr. Lawrence Vasquez, the commander of the PRT, dispatched members of his civil and public affairs teams into different classrooms to engage with the girls.
Through light, two-way conversations with the aid of Afghan interpreters, the PRT learned many useful things about the girl's educational needs. From electricity to text books, there were a lot of potential improvements suggested by the students and faculty.
"Our families encourage us to come here. We want to learn and have peace in Afghanistan," said one of the seniors. She continued her dialog with the PRT member by pointing out their need for electricity and computers before she sat back down in her seat.
Across the room another senior girl stood up. She shyly asked to get the computers soon. The seniors graduate in six months and she said, "Whenever we apply for any job, the first question is if we can use a computer and we have never seen one."
All of the girls in the room sat two to a bench on old fashioned desks. They all wore their coats and the stove in the corner, because it lacked wood to burn, offered no warmth. There were 22 seniors in class today, when there are normally 32. The teacher stated that some of the young women don't attend on the colder days.
The school sits on a rather sizeable piece of property and has several buildings, some of which were built by a previous PRT. But with over 1,700 students, Cmdr. Vasquez wasn't surprised to hear that the school needs more space and more furniture.
"I visited the school prior to taking command of the PRT," said Vasquez. "The school was empty then, so I was very encouraged to see that there were that many girls in the school."
Cmdr. Vasquez explained that once the PRT completes a project they work hard to follow-up and make sure that what they have built is sustainable and is in fact being maintained by the local populace.
Leaving with a laundry list of concerns and suggestions, Cmdr. Vasquez and his team will work in partnership with the Farah Ministry of Education to help meet the needs of the school.
"When we arrived, we thought maybe the school didn't have a sign so it would be safer for the girls to attend," said Vasquez. "The head teacher said they would like a sign; we're going to work on that."
| Date Taken: | 12.09.2009 |
| Date Posted: | 12.16.2009 01:26 |
| Story ID: | 42812 |
| Location: | FARAH, AF |
| Web Views: | 202 |
| Downloads: | 170 |
This work, Farah Fourth District Girl's School gets a coalition of visitors, by MSgt Tracy DeMarco, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
