Photo By Spc. Leith Edgar | Tooele, Utah native and Lt. Col. Michael W. Griffith, commander of 1st Battalion, 7th...... read more read more
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By Spc. L.B. Edgar,
7th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment
BAGHDAD, Iraq – With hope for the future of Iraq resting in the minds of the young, today's educators are playing a critical role in shaping the war-torn country's leaders of tomorrow. Teachers, such as Sufean Akum, instruct their students in hopes of a better tomorrow, one lesson at a time.
The efforts of Akum, a volunteer, who teaches English to fifth and sixth graders, were rewarded May 30 with the completion of a $125,000 renovation of the Al Swaib Primary School in southern portion of Baghdad's Abu Ghraib District, compliments of 1st Battalion, 7th Field Artillery Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division.
The project included a facelift of the exterior, the patching of leaky roofs and the supply of continuous power via generators. Refurbished kitchens, bathrooms and running water on site as well as the addition of two classrooms also improved the facility for Akum and the other nine teachers, said Capt. Mark Larsen, 32, the commander of Company C and a native of Corning, N.Y.
The additional classrooms allow the school to accommodate 100 more students and ease the burden on teachers like Akum, by reducing class sizes. The key to success for Iraqi students, according to Akum, is proficiency in the English language, he said.
"You feel very proud when kids can speak other languages like English. It's very important because it's the international language. The whole world speaks it," said the former translator. "I tell the children this is the foundation of their future. You can't be a doctor unless you know English."
Akum is one of five teachers who are volunteering to teach students at the Al Swaib Primary School. He teaches fifth-graders beginner-level English: how to write, ask questions and respond appropriately. Sixth graders learn basic vocabulary and how to speak in phrases, he said.
The students in Akum's classroom hail from rural homes on the outskirts of Baghdad primarily populated by subsistence farmers. Their community is a mixture of Shia and Sunni. A fact that was reflected in the project. The leadership of the school is Sunni, but they worked with a Shiite contractor on the project, Larsen said.
The initial contractor, a Shiite sheik, was murdered by Jaish Al Mahdi during the school's renovation for not complying with extortion demands. His brother, referred to by Soldiers as Sheik Abu Muhammad, assumed his position and finished the project without further incident, Larsen explained.
Preventing such violence was an underlying motivation for the project. It is part of a larger plan of providing essential services to the residents neighboring the west wall of Victory Base Complex. The strategy aims at curtailing violence by improving the standard of living in the area. So far violence is down, he said.
More than just a 1st Battalion mission, some Minnesota National Guardsmen of Company A, 2nd Battalion, 136th Mechanized Infantry Regiment, 134th Brigade Combat Team, who are attached to the battalion, played an integral role in the project. Deployed now for over 13 months, the Soldiers helped from the project's inception to completion, Larsen explained.
The other contributors were servicemembers who just wanted to get involved. Some Navy individual augmentees assigned to Task Force Hurricane, 151st Regional Support Group, 1st Cavalry Division, wanted to do something for the people of Iraq, said Navy Lt. Corey Doney, 29, the unit's executive officer.
"A bunch of us wanted to get outside the wire and see what Iraq is about. We wanted to do something for kids. The 1-7 (1st Battalion, 7th Field Artillery Regiment) guys have been helping us establish this relationship with the school," said the native of San Diego.
Although a group effort, Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Tyler Gauthier, 24, the unit's information officer, organized the drive and visited the school with Doney to bring backpacks, school supplies and soccer balls, among other things to the students.
Most of the donations came from friends and family of the unit. However, schools, businesses, and churches also contributed. The project's web site, which receives approximately 75 hits daily, is www.c-ram.org. It includes information on how to make donations, said Gauthier, a native of South Burlington, Vt.
Akum and the Al Swaib Primary School are not the only beneficiaries of the Sailors' desire to help the Iraqi people. The group has volunteered over 210 hours at the nearby Radwaniyah Palace Complex Civil Military Operations Center. Though the sailors are soon redeploying, their replacements are excited to continue the program, Gauthier said.
Though the school year is nearly complete, with the supplies, renovated building and teachers like Akum standing ready, the Al Swaib Primary School, is prepared to continue teaching the Iraqi leaders of tomorrow, today.
| Date Taken: | 05.30.2007 |
| Date Posted: | 06.04.2007 10:46 |
| Story ID: | 10651 |
| Location: | BAGHDAD, IQ |
| Web Views: | 442 |
| Downloads: | 415 |
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