School is in Session in Sadr City

By Sgt. Zach Mott

3rd BCT PAO, 4th Inf. Div., MND-B

A member of the 3rd Battalion, 42nd Brigade, 11th Iraqi Army Division hands a backpack to a student during a visit to the Jawala'la School in the Jamilla neighborhood of the Sadr City district of Baghdad Oct. 9. The Iraqi Army helped hand out backpacks and school uniforms that were donated by the Modern Sewing Company in the Adhamiyah district of Baghdad. During clashes earlier this year between Special Groups and Iraqi Security and Coalition Forces, this school was used to stage attacks against the Government of Iraq as well as the Iraqi and U.S. military forces.

BAGHDAD - "I think education is the greatest weapon in the people's hands," said Buad Abdul Sadr, the senior engineer in charge of refurbishing the Jawala'la school in Sadr City.

Schools are now in session in Sadr City, an area six months ago was home to some of the fiercest fighting of this five-and-a-half-year-old conflict. The rooms that children now fill at this school in northeastern Baghdad were once home to militia fighters who would daily launch attacks against the Government of Iraq, Iraqi Security and Coalition Forces.

An Iraqi boy writes on a blackboard during instruction at the Jawala'la School in the Jamilla neighborhood of the Sadr City district of Baghdad Oct. 9. The Jawala'la School was one of the first that were refurbished following the clashes between Special Groups and Iraqi Security and Coalition Forces earlier this year.

Now, after two months of work by Buad and his crew, the Jawala'la school and its 12 classrooms are filled with students decked in new uniforms provided by the Modern Sewing Company in the neighboring Adhamiyah district.

"Now we are able to send our children to school to get educated. Before we were not able to send them to the schools and now we can," said Ali Sewadi, a member of the Sadr City District Advisory Council.

Ali Sewadi, a member of the Sadr City District Advisory Council, fits an Iraqi girl for her uniform during a visit to the Jawala'la School in the Jamilla neighborhood of the Sadr City district of Baghdad Oct. 9. The uniforms were donated by the Modern Sewing Company in neighboring Adhamiyah district for the students to wear.

Sewadi and other members of the District Council as well as the Iraqi Army's 3rd Battalion, 42nd Brigade, 11th IA Division, helped hand out backpacks and uniforms to the school children during a visit there Oct. 9

The uniforms are something the students in this northeastern Baghdad district are proud to wear.

"I think, the children when you give them something, they are very happy," said Raya Suhad Alani, the Women's Committee chairman for the Sadr City DAC who also helped organize the uniform delivery for the students.

Raya Suhad Alani, Sadr City District Advisory Council Women's Committee chairman, hands a backpack to a student at the Jawala'la School in the Jamilla neighborhood of the Sadr City district of Baghdad Oct. 9. The Jawala'la School was one of the first that were refurbished following the clashes between Special Groups and Iraqi Security and Coalition Forces earlier this year. Suhad helped organize the donation of uniforms to the students from the Modern Sewing Company in the neighboring Adhamiyah district.

Once fighting in Sadr City diminished in May, one of the first steps taken was to identify the schools in the area and their condition. The Jawala'la School was one of the first visited by the 404th Civil Affairs Battalion, which is currently attached to the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Multi-National Division - Baghdad.

Sgt. Vincent Ruiz, a Toms River, N.J., native, was one of the first into the area assessing the schools. He said it wasn't uncommon to be running between buildings, evading gunfire during an assessment. Now, the situation is almost 180 degrees different.

Students from the Jawala'la School in the Jamilla neighborhood of the Sadr City district of Baghdad show off their newly issued back packs Oct. 9. The Jawala'la School was one of the first that were refurbished following the clashes between Special Groups and Iraqi Security and Coalition Forces earlier this year.

"The goal is for the children to have a brighter future than their fathers and mothers might have," he said.

This school is a step in that direction.

"When the people of Sadr City look at the schools and look at their kids in these schools, I think they will do the same thing. They will think again before they carry any kind of weapon," Buad said.

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