PANJSHIR PROVINCE, Afghanistan – Panjshir Provincial Reconstruction Team members and representatives from the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 34th Infantry Division, Task Force Red Bulls, distributed 20,000 rule of law books and more than 10 boxes of donated school supplies and games to schools in Anaba and Shotol Districts, Afghanistan, May 24.
The supplies were incorporated into a TF Red Bulls’ mission during which the task force and Panjshir Provincial Director of the Department of Education Abdul Muqeem distributed books from a USAID rule of law program that focuses on civics, the Afghan judicial system, constitution and formal law structures.
“The books are to teach the youth about the constitution, government and importance of following the rule of law,” said U.S. Army Capt. Matthew Kuehl, TF Red Bulls RoL coordinator, and Lake Geneva, Wis., native.
By combining the books with the donated school supplies, the rule of law education program had an even greater impact on students, said Kuehl.
U.S. Army Maj. Bill Kelly, and his civilian employer, the Davis Brown Law firm, one of Iowa’s largest law firms, supplied the donations.
“Throughout the deployment I had constant offers from members of the firm to help me, our soldiers or Afghans,” said Kelly, TF Red Bulls Brigade Judge Advocate, and Norwalk, Iowa, resident.
“We began planning a children's rule of law and constitutional awareness mission, and I thought this would be a great opportunity for the firm to do something that would truly make a difference,” he said.
Kelly contacted Courtney Strutt Todd, a Davis Brown associate who specializes in business law, and asked her if she could help collect some basic supplies to hand out with the USAID rule of law books.
Todd and her fellow employees collected more than 10 boxes of supplies and money to cover shipping and the purchase of additional items.
“I was amazed by how much they sent,” said Kelly. The shipments included Iowa memorabilia, toys, books, games, treats, movies, DVDs and school supplies. “This definitely made a big difference in the success of our mission and the impact of our rule of law program.”
The 20,000 books were part of a total of 50,000 books to be distributed to 30 primary schools in the province within the next month.
“We wanted to bring these books to you to help you learn about law and your government,” Kuehl told a classroom of boys in the Anaba Boys High School. “We ask you to study these books because it’s important to learn about the law.”
The distribution of the law books to the schools was one of many initiatives the Panjshir PRT RoL team initiated to inform villagers of principles of the law.
“We started a rule of law campaign about a year ago to promote public awareness of the formal and informal justice sector by getting information out through the local radio station, newspaper and billboards,” said Mahboobullah Nickzad, local national legal adviser with Panjshir PRT.
While provincial villagers are informed indirectly through local media, the PRT RoL team also holds district leader training classes. In the last two months more than 300 villager elders attended the trainings in five of the province’s seven districts.
“We are trying to build the knowledge of the community for a good government with a good understanding of law,” said Nickzad.
The PRT RoL team plans to build the knowledge of the community by informing teachers of the province as well.
“Sometimes it’s hard for kids to understand law, so we have come up with a program for teachers which will be held at the Panjshir Teacher Training Institute,” said Nickzad. “We plan to train around 800 school teachers to give them a basic understanding of law and the rights of men and women.”
The training for the teachers will begin in the next two months and will clarify the relationship between Sharia law and constitutional law.
“Many villagers have the concern that the constitutional law is against Sharia law, and the teacher training course will cover the relationship of the two with a basic introduction of the Afghanistan constitution,” said Nackzad. “We want to point out that constitutional law isn’t different; it’s not anything that goes against Islam.”
The Panjshir PRT RoL team said they see the importance of rule of law and strives to inform the public and empower the people.
Panjshir Department of Education Director Abdul Moqim Haleemi told Anaba High School students, “You should know the rules because if you know the rules you can serve your people and be a leader of Afghanistan in the future.”
| Date Taken: | 06.07.2011 |
| Date Posted: | 06.06.2011 15:31 |
| Story ID: | 71676 |
| Location: | PANJSHIR PROVINCE, AF |
| Web Views: | 150 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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