Military's Adopt-a-Village Program Assists Grateful Iraqi Citizens
by Chad Groening
September 16, 2005
(AgapePress) - A group of Air Force personnel serving in Afghanistan are trying to make a difference for ordinary Afghan people by donating school supplies and other items to villagers. Captain Alison Kamataris serves with the 455th Air Expeditionary Wing at Bagram Air Force Base. When not performing her duties as the executive officer for a colonel, the New Hampshire native takes part in the military's Adopt-a-Village program.
Kamataris says the program is well received by the locals. "We've got together about 30 to 35 airmen who had the opportunity to go to a local village about 20 kilometers off base," she notes, "and we were able to bring toys, school supplies, as well as just some good items for some of the adults, and they were very grateful."
The Air Force officer has found that most of the Iraqi people are not so different from the ordinary people back home. "Those average folks really aren't participating in the negativity and the violence against the coalition partners -- not just the U.S. but against all of our coalition partners here," she says. "The overwhelming majority of the people here just want what we want as Americans -- freedom, a political process, and a future for their children."
Kamataris' feels the Adopt-a-Village program provides the U.S. military personnel with lots of immediate opportunities to make the lives of the Iraqi people better. For instance, her unit has been instrumental in getting an agreement from their engineers to provide a well for a village that never had running water before.
"We get to provide a lot of effort to the war mission out here," the captain says, "but it's always amazing when we can go out and provide something to the actual people, who really don't care about the politics."
The Iraqi villagers "don't care about, necessarily, what is going on day to day with the bad guys," Kamataris adds. "They just know they're trying to feed their families and bring peace to their country, and if we can go and provide some kind of help to that effort it really has an amazing outcome on our end."
Chad Groening, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
