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    Camp Eggers volunteers assist with Afghan flood relief efforts

    KABUL, AFGHANISTAN

    08.16.2013

    Story by Lt.j.g. Jacob Joy 

    NATO Training Mission Afghanistan

    KABUL, Afghanistan – Volunteer community relations team members from Camp Eggers visited the Afghan Scouts National Training Center in Kabul Aug. 16 to deliver flood relief donations bound for the mountainous Sarobi district in Kabul province 35 miles east of the capital city.

    Sarobi saw the worst of early August’s regional flash floods, with dozens killed or reported missing, whole village sections wiped out and an area girl’s school devastated just before the start of a new school year.

    Coalition service member and civilian volunteers worked with the Afghan Scouts to provide a truckload of blankets, rugs, toys, school supplies and badly needed hygiene items like toothbrushes, soap and shampoo.

    The destruction in Sarobi is substantial, according to Afghan Scouts adviser Keith Blackey, who visited the village and will help coordinate delivery of the donated goods.

    “When you approach [Sarobi], it looks like any Afghan town. But when you get there, you realize that big parts of it are just gone,” Blackey said. Given the extent of the damage, the Afghan Scouts determined they would concentrate their efforts on assisting with the restoration of the girl’s school. Blackey said to try and fix the whole village “would take an army of help.”

    The Afghan Scouts’ headquarters is co-located with the social services organization PARSA, which serves disadvantaged Afghans in a variety of outreach programs focused on issues like women’s training and childhood education. After unloading flood relief items, many VCR volunteers made cash donations and dined with other visitors at the on-site restaurant staffed and operated by at-risk Afghan women who are trained in hospitality and other employable skills there. Volunteers also interacted with children housed at an adjacent orphanage and visited the stray animals at the compound’s veterinary clinic.

    “Our job over here is focused on military and police training,” said U.S. Navy Lt. James Heckman, a NATO Combined Security Transition Command-Afghanistan contract management officer and Camp Eggers volunteer team member since May. “Volunteering for these missions gives you a little more sense of humanity here. It’s a chance to actually work with and interact with people beyond the camp and the bazaar.”

    The VCR group at Eggers will continue accepting flood response donation items through the first week of September. Priority goods include supplies for the girl’s school – desks, chairs, and classroom items like pens, pencils and notebooks. Balls and outdoor toys for kids whose homes were destroyed are also welcome. New or used items in good condition are acceptable.
    Coalition members wanting to donate flood relief goods can contact VCR through the NTM-A/CSTC-A SharePoint portal, and those who would like to ship a donation from afar can send items to the following address:
    VCR Program
    NTM-A/CSTC-A Chaplain's Office
    Camp Eggers
    APO AE 09356

    Those wanting to make a financial donation to flood relief through the Afghan Scouts can find more information at www.afghanscouts.org.

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    NEWS INFO

    Date Taken: 08.16.2013
    Date Posted: 08.19.2013 00:58
    Story ID: 112188
    Location: KABUL, AF

    Web Views: 688
    Downloads: 0

    PUBLIC DOMAIN