Difference for Afghans

[Mike P]

This was not the first time the Americans had come to their village, and
their faces displayed the eagerness with which the visit was welcomed.

Shah Wali Kot is slightly larger than many rural villages in the area. At
least 20 buildings dot the town's landscape. Some homes sit on the
hillsides, while others line the road that follows the valley.

More than 50 volunteers from Kandahar Airfield came to help on the recent
"Make a Difference Day" organized by the soldiers of 3rd Squadron, 4th
Cavalry Regiment. Getting up early and riding more than two hours to reach
the village north of Kandahar, the volunteers descended on Shah Wali Kot's
school to fix up the building and give the classrooms a fresh coat of paint.

Under Taliban rule, the school had been used as a jail. While observing the
work being done to repair the school, Lt. Col. Mike McMahon, the regiment's
commander, pointed out the improvements being made.

"Those windows were full of bricks from when the Taliban used the building
as a jail," he said. "We're here to help (clean up the school) and make this
a community project." The improvements were a joint effort between the
American volunteers and the people of Shah Wali Kot.

Along with the civilian and military volunteers from Kandahar Airfield,
McMahon noted all the children working on the school. "They're the future of
Afghanistan. They're the ones that jump in and join us," he said smiling.
Some children were pushing brooms, sweeping away the dust. Some had paint
brushes and were painting walls, the green and white paint dripping on their
hands and spatters going into their hair. All of them grinned widely as they
worked.

Running from room to room to check on the progress, 2nd Lt. Jamie McNamara
was the task organizer for the school project. She only slowed down to share
a smile with a small Afghan girl, Negeba, who followed McNamara nearly
everywhere she went. The relationship between the two began two weeks prior,
when a smaller group of volunteers from the unit came to start the work on
the school.

http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Aug2004/n08272004_2004082705.html