Many donors have implemented the project in their local neighborhoods, lobbying for support from others.
Individual donations of $3.59, a small amount by U.S. standards, pay the average cost of one Arabic schoolbook and have significantly increased Iraqi children’s opportunities to learn.
Donors can buy the books online at www.operationican.com.
I CAN is the brainchild of 1LT William Diefenbach of the 4th Battalion, 3rd Air Defense Artillery, who spearheaded the effort after meeting with teachers and students at five schools in the Tikrit area. Although the unit’s predecessor, 1st Bn., 44th ADA, repaired and rebuilt the schools, they were still empty inside. There was a need for school supplies.
“As I listened to the teachers and some of the students talk to us about some of the things they wanted and needed, the idea for the I CAN operation just clicked,” Diefenbach said.
I CAN has outgrown the initial five schools it targeted and has spread throughout Iraq as other units came on board to distribute school supplies in their areas of operation. Giving school supplies is just one way donors support the project.
Diefenbach approached Malayin Publishers, a publisher of Arabic-language books, about carrying a special online catalog of Arabic children’s books that donors could purchase. The publisher agreed and has made the catalog available to online shoppers ever since.
“Since the fall of the old regime, teachers’ salaries have increased dramatically. This is encouraging more people to become teachers. At the same time the quality of education has improved. Textbooks are now devoid of repeated references to Saddam Hussein and Ba’ath-Party propaganda, and allow students to analyze more than memorize what they read,” Diefenbach said.
Meanwhile, at an Army mailroom in Schweinfurt, Germany, an I CAN poster caught the eye of Barbara Caiado, a family member whose husband is assigned to 1st Bn., 26th Infantry, another unit distributing I CAN supplies in Iraq.
“I came up with the idea to make a German Web page for the unit,” she said.
After an article appeared in the local Schweinfurt newspaper, local German citizens called by the dozens wanting to donate everything from shampoo to toys, Caiado said.
“There’s been a great response from the German community. Many of them have experienced war and know what’s needed,” she said.
I CAN relies on the support of donors to help administrators at about 2,000 schools in the Tikrit area alone, where Diefenbach is stationed. The growing need for school supplies has been spurred by reforms in the Iraqi education system as more children are attending school.
Soldiers have distributed more than 100 boxes of donated school supplies throughout Iraq and are gathering more from donors across the world. Besides the faceless donors who faithfully mail their packages, there are 124 contributors listed on the www.operationican.com Web site. This list includes individuals, families, schools, churches and other organizations that have become regular donors.
To join this effort, mail donations to:
Headquarters and HQs. Battery
4th Bn., 3rd ADA, 1st Inf. Div.
Operation I CAN
C/O 1LT W.A. Diefenbach, FOB Danger, OIF II,
APO AE 09392
