ISAF in North Afghanistan-

1st BSTB Soldiers improve local schools

By Spc. Cynthia Teears Van Cleve

1st Brigade Combat Team Journalist

DEHDADI, Afghanistan – Soldiers of Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Brigade Special Troops Battalion, 1st Brigade Combat Team, have been coordinating efforts to help improve school facilities in Dehdadi District in northern Afghanistan.

They have been working with the Habiday Balkh Preschool, Primary School and High School.

"In this district, 60 percent of the people are educated," said Capt. Timothy Williams, commander of HHC, 1st BSTB. "That's better than most districts in Afghanistan."

Abdullah, principal of Habiday Balkh Primary School, said he appreciates the U.S. Army helping with the school's needs in this district and for providing classroom tents for his school.

"We're putting in a new classroom for the preschool," Williams said.

The preschool has a building, but the wooden roof is rotting and leaks when it rains. Contractors working on the building added a porch for students, replaced rotten wood and sealed cracks in the walls.

"They are doing a good job," Williams said. "It looks a lot better than it did."

"We're trying to get the project approved to get the classroom done before the beginning of the next school year," he added.

Water purification is another issue the company is working to improve over the next year.

"I'll look into getting a well or water into the other side of this school too – for the garden," Williams said.

Williams noticed students talking to his Soldiers more and more in English lately. He asked the high school principal how students had learned English so quickly.

"The students are starting to trust you more, so that's why they will talk English to you more now," said Sheienjen, Habiday Balkh High School principal.

Building trust and helping the community are some of the key ingredients to accomplishing the mission in Afghanistan.

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