2008 PRT News
Iraqi Children Experience Slice of U.S. Culture
(Salah ad Din PRT hosts get-to-know party for local kids)
By SGT Peggy Swircek
Special Correspondent
July 24, 2008
Salah ad Din Province, Iraq – Summer for many Iraqi children is in stark contrast from the block parties and “glad to be out of school” American kids running through water sprinklers in quiet, cozy neighborhoods.
Instead, many of the children in Hamad Al Shab village spend their days peering through a broken chain link fence that separates them from the main highway near Contingency Operating Base (COB) Speicher where the Salah ad Din Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) is collocated with the 1st Brigade Combat Team (BCT) of the 101st Airborne Division.
In an attempt to make up for the lack of youth activities in the province, PRT Team Leader Richard Bell recently invited more than 20 children, ages five through fourteen, to participate in a day of fun and activities.
The children got to know both military and civilians working on the PRT, whom they observed from afar but had never approached. The team had plans for a fun day… a laugh, a hug, a slice of pizza and a slice of culture.
After being greeted at the main gate of the COB the nervous children loaded into vans and headed off to what for them was an unknown destination. Once arriving at the base Gym, the children immediately loosened up when they saw soldiers with soccer balls, brightly colored kites, model glider bi-planes and boxes of stuffed animals waiting for them.
Some of the children rushed to the sports field to showcase their soccer expertise while others mastered their kite flying skills or selected and played with their own teddy bear. Word spread quickly that there were Iraqi children on the COB and soon people began to arrive; some bearing gifts and some to play.
The afternoon presented more unique opportunities for the children including a visit from the COB Speicher Fire and Rescue squad with one of their fire trucks; a pizza party and the opportunity to teach some soldiers how to write their name in Arabic using sidewalk chalk.
After lunch, Staff Sergeant Colleen Kelly, a high school chemistry teacher in the South Bronx assigned to the PRT, taught the children how to make slime! Slime is a green viscous substance used by children like clay that was introduced as a toy in America in the mid-1970’s. “I was not sure if they knew what it was. When I showed it to them their eyes got all big and they just stared,” SSG Kelly said.
Kelly said other children choose to participate in another American tradition -- watching an animated movie in a special theater set up within the COB’s conference room.
The day closed with group pictures and gift presentations. The PRT Public Diplomacy Officer Angela Gemza and her staff gathered donations and stuffed back packs with school supplies, toys, candy, and hygiene products which they handed out to each child.
At the end of the festivities the Iraqi children showed a final display of true Arab hospitality and goodwill. While the soldiers and guests waited at the gate for their transportation back home, one boy walked slowly with his hands clutched tightly around a glass of ice water, sweat beading across his face, and presented SSG Kelly with the cup. As she sipped from the glass a smile crept across her face and continued to grow as she said “shukran” (thank you in Arabic) and then watched him carry the glass to the other soldiers.
“The children seemed hesitant when at the gate this morning”, said a local interpreter from the same village as the children. However, as he watched the children return from the party, he said, “Look now! They are relaxed and they are not afraid of you. They look happy. I have not seen them this happy before.”
The PRTs (Provincial Reconstruction Team) are a Department of State-led civilian-military initiative that helps provincial and local governments build capacity to serve their citizens through a range of governance and economic development programs. There are a total of twenty nine teams throughout Iraq manned by over four-hundred civilian volunteers and an equal number of military personnel.