May 12, 2004

Today's good deed

Posted by Ted

Terry Welch, who is serving as an Army public affairs specialist in Afghanistan, has a very reasonable request. He says that what Afghan children want, more than anything, are pens. Pens are cheap. Below the fold is his letter, including a link to OfficeMax and his address.

As many of you know, I am currently in the apolitical position of Army public affairs specialist in Afghanistan. I only recently arrived, after waiting for 2.5 months at Ft. Riley, Kansas, but that’s another issue. I’m writing you all today because I’m going to take many of you up on your offers and rudely ask a favor of those who made no offer.

When I first mentioned on my blog that I was going to be deployed, a large number of you asked how you could help me, what I would need for Afghanistan. The truth is, there’s not much. However, I just went on my first mission with a civil affairs group and found a way you might be able to help me out.

It seems that the children of Afghanistan want nothing more than they want a pen.

It was explained to me that the villages through which I traveled (near Kandahar, where I’m based) are so poor that a pen is like a scholarship to these children. They desperately want to learn but, without a pen, they simply won’t. It’s a long story. I won’t bore you with it. Trust me, though, when I say that it would be a big deal if even a few of you could put up the call for pens for me. Anyone interested in helping out could either send some directly to me or go to these sites and send them, where you can find them for as cheap as $.89 a dozen.

(OfficeMax link)

You can send them to me at this address:

Terry L. Welch
105th MPAD
Kandahar Public Affairs Office
APO AE 09355

UPDATE: OfficeMax requires a phone number for the recipient to place an order. Any phone number will work.

Posted on May 12, 2004 08:27 PM UTC
Comments

Along similar lines, but perhaps involving a larger financial commitment, is participating in Operation Iraqi Children. (Sorry if this has already been mentioned.)

Posted by Nat Whilk · May 12, 2004 09:00 PM

So what’s the long story? I want to know: do we have Spc Welch’s website address?

Posted by paul · May 12, 2004 09:42 PM

He used to write Nitpicker (http://nitpicker.blogspot.com/) until he was called up, then he passed the reigns over to someone else. I don’t think that the long story is available anywhere, but I’ll see if we can get it out of him.

Posted by Ted Barlow · May 12, 2004 09:47 PM

I’m sorry to sound churlish, but this request strikes me as a bit strange. An American government officer is asking for us to buy pens for Afghan children for him to distribute? Isn’t this the sort of thing the US government, with its vaunted commitment to Afghanistan, should be doing?

Posted by jacob · May 12, 2004 10:09 PM

Jacob,

Ever worked in a government bureaucracy? It wouldn’t surprise me at all to learn that all the money and resources at Spc Welch’s command is allocated to everything but the stuff Afghans actually want.

Posted by paul · May 12, 2004 10:22 PM

Isn’t this the sort of thing the US government, with its vaunted commitment to Afghanistan, should be doing?

The pen budget was in the $700m for Afghanistan that Bush expropriated to use on Iraq.

But this is a grassroots thing, and deserves supporting.

Posted by nick · May 12, 2004 10:26 PM

A shipment of pens is on its way.

Posted by J. Michael Neal · May 12, 2004 10:38 PM

Can someone please explain how to enter the address given in the format required by officemax. I’m a bit confused about city/state etc.

Posted by Andrew Chase · May 12, 2004 10:41 PM

Andrew,

Use “APO” as the city, and select “Armed Forces” for the state. Use any phone number you like.

Posted by Ted Barlow · May 12, 2004 11:03 PM

Ted, if you have contact with him:
If he needs more pens, I can order them tomorrow. If he’s pen-saturated, and has other needs, just post them here, and I’ll get some of that for him.

Posted by Barry · May 13, 2004 12:18 AM

Ted,

It turns out that I can post here. I just want to thank everyone who’s helping out.

SSG Terry Welch

Posted by Terry · May 13, 2004 06:05 AM

Ted,

It turns out that I can post here. I just want to thank everyone who’s helping out.

And I’m sorry for the confusion. PA specialist is my title. My rank is Staff Sergeant.

Also for those who want the full story, it’s not really long, so much as complicated and impolitic and tied into Afghan cultural issues that civil affairs, not us Army journalist types, will have to deal with. I apologize for being vague, but, without sending this whole note up to HQ for approval, I have to be.

Thanks again. I’ll try to send you all some photos of the children with their pens. Feel free to drop me an e-mail if you choose.

SSG Terry Welch

Posted by Terry · May 13, 2004 06:10 AM

Terry, would books help, as well?
I work at a university, so I can scarf up some used textbooks.

Posted by Barry · May 13, 2004 12:07 PM

Barry,

I’m still a little green here, so I don’t know. However, I’d be willing to bet that, at this point, doing whatever we can to get the childhood literacy rate up would help. I sat in the home of the leader of a local village the other day and he told us that he and four others were the only ones who could read.

That being said, I appreciate the offer, but think we might want to let those who are more fluent in Afghan culture help them with the books. There is much I don’t know about the culture and the last thing I would want to do would be to offend anyone accidentally by handing them culturally inappropriate textbooks.

Thanks again, though.

Posted by Terry · May 13, 2004 01:41 PM

Would pencils do? Being more environmentally-friendy and all. Or are pens what they want?

Posted by ladygoat · May 13, 2004 02:51 PM

Afghani kids begging for ballpoint pens isn’t unique. Anywhere I’ve ever travelled, kids beg for ballpoint pens. Experienced travellers realize that the ballpoint pens are a “beggar’s currency” which can be traded for candy or whatever toy the kids want. Any pens sent by soft-hearted Americans will just wind up
in a vendor’s stall in a local bazaar!

Posted by Kay Bear · May 13, 2004 03:02 PM

Afghani kids begging for ballpoint pens isn’t unique. Anywhere I’ve ever travelled, kids beg for ballpoint pens. Experienced travellers realize that the ballpoint pens are a “beggar’s currency” which can be traded for candy or whatever toy the kids want. Any pens sent by soft-hearted Americans will just wind up
in a vendor’s stall in a local bazaar!

Posted by Kay Bear · May 13, 2004 03:03 PM

…the ballpoint pens are a “beggar’s currency” which can be traded for candy or whatever toy the kids want. Any pens sent by soft-hearted Americans will just wind up in a vendor’s stall in a local bazaar!

That’s not such a bad thing — imagine being a kid without the odd treat. Maybe not quite as important as the pen, but still part of being a kid…

Posted by Otis Noman · May 13, 2004 04:16 PM

A shipment is on the way. Terry, if you find out about books soon, just have Ted post it on Crooked Timber.

Posted by Barry · May 14, 2004 02:31 AM

you can get pens for cheap on ebay. no guarantee on quality, of course. one of the sellers quoted me a price of $217 or $117 for 2500 pens, depending on shipping. also $49 or $36 for 500 pens.

this guy says he has about 200,000 pens, by the way.

http://tinyurl.com/3gowz

Terry, how long are you going to be there?

Posted by tk · May 16, 2004 06:50 PM
Followups

→ finally, something good to think about.
Excerpt: Crooked Timber: Today’s good deed : It seems that the children of Afghanistan want nothing more than they want a...Read more at cloudy, chance of sun breaks
→ A response to Inhofe and two ways to help.
Excerpt: I've been busy teaching and grading all day, and about the only things I've read online are related to Iraq and Afghanistan, so this will be another non-biology post; sorry.Read more at Rhosgobel: Radagast's Home
→ Penning American Values.
Excerpt: Over at Crooked Timber, they have a letter you might want to think about if you've got a little money (and I do mean a little) and you want to...Read more at IMHO

This discussion has been closed. Thanks to everyone who contributed.