Not left empty handed

DELARAM, AFGHANISTAN

01.31.2011

Story by Lance Cpl. Clayton Vonderahe 

II Marine Expeditionary Force   

DELARAM, Afghanistan -- What do the children of Afghanistan want? For some it is no more than a pencil. Education is the foundation of civilization and an important building block in today’s modern societies.

When 1st Lt. Christopher Spencer, a logistics operations and motor transportation officer with Regimental Combat Team 2, noticed that the children in Afghanistan wanted pens and paper more than they wanted soda and candy, he saw to it that they were not left empty handed.

Spencer’s various job requirements made him very mobile through a large area of Afghanistan. He made it a point to try and share some of what he had with Afghan civilians, but what he was lacking was what they wanted most.

"While traveling throughout the (area of operation), one of the consistantly reoccuring things we were asked for by children was when they held out their palm and wrote in it with their other hand, symbalizing a pen and paper," Spencer explained. “More often then not we didn’t have it on the convoy to hand out, so I thought with all my neices and nephews there had to be some way that we could get the supplies out here to get to the children."

Spencer asked his brother and sister-in-law, Doug and Tracey Spencer, if there was any way they could gather supplies to send to Afghanistan. His brother, Douglas Spencer, is a lieutenant commander in the Navy and understood the request.

In Spring of 2010, Spencer’s family and the students and staff of Foxmill Elementary in Herndon, Va., gathered the school supplies that would normally be thrown out at the end of the year and sent them to Spencer in Afghanistan.

"The idea of it being that children in the states are supporting children the same age in Afghanistan, giving them things they normally wouldn’t have to further their education."

More than a dozen boxes filled with supplies started to trickle in as Spencer waited patiently for all the packages to arrive. With the collaberation of 1st Lt. Robert Caron, a civil affairs team leader with Regimental Combat Team 2, Spencer was able to distribute the supplies to a boys school located in Delaram, Afghanistan.

Pencils, crayons and markers were spralled across a table in anticipation for the arrival of the children. The children filed in and were given soda as the school’s principal talked with them and explained why they were there.

The students grabbed bags of supplies in groups of two and roughly seventy children left with more supplies than the school had likely seen in years.

"It felt good to see the immediate impact of some of the things that we've done here,” said Spencer. “I primarily support the troops in the fight and don’t get an opportunity to work with the civilian Afghans."

Before the children left, Spencer siezed an opportunity to observe the children who were absorbed in examining their newly gained learning supplies. The efforts Spencer and his family put forward have offered an opportunity for these children to learn. At the end of the event, no child left empty handed.

"Being able to see the appreciation in the children’s faces when we gave them the supplies was a fufilling feeling. The children knew that we were here to help them."

• Date Taken: 01.31.2011
• Date Posted: 02.01.2011 10:15
• Story ID: 64594
• Location: DELARAM, AF