Photo By Petty Officer 3rd Class Tyler Wilson | The 418th civil affairs battalion donated more than 70 medical textbooks from the...... read more read more
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DJIBOUTI – The 418th civil affairs battalion donated more than 70 medical textbooks from the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh to the Medical School of Djibouti June 16.
The project came to form when U.S. Army Lt. Col Michael Hert, 418th civil affairs battalion’s liaison officer to the U.S. Embassy in Djibouti, spoke with the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh, his alma mater, about a possible donation to the Djiboutian school.
“Education and health are two of the main priorities of the region,” said Hert. “I had mentioned our mission to the University [of Wisconsin Oshkosh] to see if they could help us with any future projects and we came up with the idea for a medical book donation.”
Hert said after the contact was made the project hit the ground running.
“Within a few weeks of speaking about the project we had received five boxes of medical books mailed here,” he said. “All we had left to do was contact USAID and find a school that would benefit from this donation.”
It didn’t take USAID long to find a school interested in the donation. The agency contacted Dr. Ali Barre Matan, Dean of the Medical School of Djibouti, who was excited at the idea.
“We have a good relationship with the U.S. military and the embassy,” said Matan. “When I was contacted about the possibility of a donation I was very anxious. This will really help our students and the future of this school.”
With Arabic and French being the primary languages in Djibouti, the books also contain an added benefit to those who use the books in their studies.
“The books will really help our students with their medical and conversational English skills,” said Matan. “Hopefully it will motivate them to learn English so that they can help our future communications with the United States and other countries that don’t speak Arabic or French.”
Hert says just knowing that the books are serving a positive purpose makes all the work to have this donation happen worthwhile.
“After being in this area for a short time you start to realize how hungry these people are for education,” said Hert. “To be able to do this with our host nation will go a long way. To you and me it may just be a few books, but to these people it’s knowledge that they may not be able to get anywhere else.”
| Date Taken: | 06.16.2010 |
| Date Posted: | 06.19.2010 07:28 |
| Story ID: | 51650 |
| Location: | DJ |
| Web Views: | 190 |
| Downloads: | 156 |
This work, Civil Affairs Battalion Donates Books to Djiboutian Medical School, by PO3 Tyler Wilson, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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