EARTHWARD
Desks for Iraq
Turn your vision earthward -
'Tis we must lend
a hand.
Getting even a minimal education has long been a major challenge for the Shia children of the Hatim Al Hathal village in the Sunni triangle of Iraq. Sectarian violence between Shia and Sunnis in the region has left the village in shambles, and its residents in utter poverty. The water is polluted, and due to constant sabotage of the infrastructure, electricity is rarely available. There is no working sanitation system. The children in the school were forced to share one desk among every four students.
Fortunately, one of EARTHWARD's volunteers had received a donation of school furniture including 120 desks from School Specialty, Inc, headquartered in Wisconsin, USA. They had been delivered from upstate New York to Greenville by Midwest Express. All transportation and packing help and supplies were donated. The materials were housed through the winter, in a large building owned by the local Lions Club and the Town of Greenville, Wisconsin, until further delivery to Iraq could be arranged in early June 2003.
The furniture was then delivered to General Mitchel Field in Milwaukee by Schneider Freight. From Mitchel Field, it was flown to Baghdad courtesy of the Wisconsin Air National Guard and the USAF out of Charleston AFB, through the auspices of the Denton Project, part of USAID.
Though six chairs were stolen in transit, the remainder of the furniture, a full truckload, arrived in Iraq in September, and was delivered to the Hatim Al Hathal school, in early October.