Photo By Senior Master Sgt. Thomas Doscher | Children wait outside the newly-opened boys' school in Rabat for members of the 27th...... read more read more
By Air Force Staff Sgt. Thomas J. Doscher
Regional Command-East Public Affairs Office
FORWARD OPERATING BASE ORGUN-E, Afghanistan – The roads were nearly impassable on the four-hour journey to Rabat, Sarobi, washed out by a rain storm the night before, but the 27th Engineer Battalion was going to open that school no matter what.
Members of the 27th Eng. Bn. travelled to the town to open the school and hand out school supplies to the local children.
The boys' school, the first of its kind in the small village, has six rooms and can educate more than 300 of Rabat's boys. It was constructed with $50,000 in Commander's Emergency Response Program funds and oversight from the 27th Eng. Bn.
"This is the only one in Rabat," said 1st Lt. Jerre Hansbrough, 27th Eng. Bn. civil affairs officer. "We coordinated with the local government to make sure it's in an appropriate location and would be staffed once built."
The Afghan people value education, Hansbrough said, and would pursue it with our without a school.
"Most of the towns here have an education program," he said. "But a hard building for a school is uncommon. Usually, they sit under a sturdy tree."
Along with four good walls, the engineers also supplied the students and teachers with school supplies just in time for their first day of class. Most of the supplies, including textbooks, notebooks, bookbags and shoes, came from CERP funds, but some came from the engineers themselves.
"There were also four boxes of donations from relatives and friends back home," Hansbrough explained.
Wali Jan, a teacher at the newly opened school, thanked the engineers and urged the assembled Afghans to work together to educate children.
"This is all for us," he said of the school. "We need to be united with each other, be a part of the government and cooperate with teachers."
Jan said he plans to teach a variety of subjects with the supplies the engineers brought.
"We will teach geography, history, Dari, Pashto, English and the Koran," he said. "I want everyone to go to school, to learn."
The school will also bring something else Rabat has lacked in recent years, attention from the government.
"We built a road down here," Hansbrough said. "Before that there was very little involvement. It was once a forgotten area. This school brings them to the light, shows them that they're important too. This is the first vertical structure in Rabat that will cater to several hundred families."
Jan said in 20 years, this school will teach children about the coalition's help in Rabat.
"The coalition came here to help," he said. "To bring peace to us."
| Date Taken: | 03.17.2007 |
| Date Posted: | 03.19.2007 09:20 |
| Story ID: | 9478 |
| Location: | ORGUN, AF |
| Web Views: | 67 |
| Downloads: | 57 |
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