Civil Affairs Marines in Now Zad restore Berekzai schools

Photo By Lance Cpl. Glen Santy | Staff Sgt. James Jordan, with the civil affairs team, in support of 1st Battalion, 8th Marines, Regimental Combat Team 2, distributes school supplies at a local school in Now Zad, Jan. 9. The civil affairs Marines have been working with the teachers since they arrived here in December of last year, giving out supplies such as pens, pencils and papers.  

FORWARD OPERATING BASE CAFFERETTA, AFGHANISTAN

01.10.2011

Story by Lance Cpl. Glen Santy 

II Marine Expeditionary Force   

FORWARD OPERATING BASE CAFFERETTA, Afghanistan – As Marines entered the school, chants of children hushed to a whisper. “Salaam Alikum,” said the teachers to the Marines, warmly welcoming them into their classrooms.

When the Marines of the civil affairs team in support of 1st Battalion, 8th Marines, Regimental Combat Team 2, arrived to Now Zad, an estimated 200 students were in attendance at the schools in the local area. Now nearly 500 children attend classes here daily.

“We’re extremely happy with the number of kids we see in the school right now,” said Cpl. Dustin Brians, a civil affairs specialist, in support of 1st Bn., 8th Marines, RCT-2. “There are more and more kids there every week and attendance continues to grow.”

One teacher noted that classroom attendance has more than doubled in recent months, indicating that the local children in the area want to learn.

During class, students learn about the Koran and other religious studies. Their classes also include mathematics, geography, spelling and even some English.

“When we got here, we almost always had to speak in Pashtu to the children,” said Lance Cpl. Bowen Yu, a civil affairs specialist, in support of 1st Bn., 8th Marines. “Now when we’re walking down the street, they’ll come up saying ‘What’s up?’ or ‘How are you?’ which is great.”

In the expectation of more students, Marines and teachers have already laid plans for major renovations on the current building.

“The old school the kids were going to was basically destroyed,” said Brians, 24, from Annapolis, Md. “The roof had collapsed in a lot of the rooms. The glass windows were all shattered and broken, and the doors were off their hinges.”

Since then, Brians and his team, along with local Afghan workers have helped to clean up the schools, and are working to improve the existing buildings the children currently receive classes in.

Once the funding and paperwork is complete, the construction phase of renovating the school will begin.

Working together with local contractors, the people of Now Zad and Marines are building a brighter future for Afghanistan.

“This is a great program for Afghanistan,” said Yu, 23, originally from Hong Kong and recruited out of Las Vegas. “When we’re gone, these kids will be running this place. Giving them a place for an education is the least we can do.”

• Date Taken: 01.10.2011
• Date Posted: 01.11.2011 00:24
• Story ID: 63341
• Location: FORWARD OPERATING BASE CAFFERETTA, AF