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Sources: Art DeGroat, 785-532-0369, degroata@1xbet online sports betting edu;
and Gary LaGrange, 785-537-7493, lagrange1@cox.net
News release prepared by: Trevor Davis, 785-532-2535, tjdavis@1xbet online sports betting edu
Tuesday, Feb. 1, 2011
BOOK DONATIONS SPREAD KNOWLEDGE TO IRAQ'S BASRAH 1xbet online sports betting
MANHATTAN -- Kansas State 1xbet online sports betting is supplying stacks of textbooks to help rebuild Iraq.
K-State is partnering with the Manhattan-based nonprofit Help Us Learn ... Give us Hope to provide textbooks to Iraq's Basrah 1xbet online sports betting . The books will help train a new generation of professionals, including engineers and agricultural business leaders.
Post-war Iraq doesn't have enough teaching materials and textbooks for its students, according to the United Nations, and about 5 million Iraqi citizens are illiterate.
K-State President Kirk Schulz and other 1xbet online sports betting administrators visited Iraq in November as guests of Fort Riley's 1st Infantry Division. One of those administrators was Art DeGroat, director of military affairs at K-State and a retired Army lieutenant colonel.
&1xbet online sports betting ;While we went to Iraq as a developmental activity that contributed to our military partnership, we discovered an opportunity to help, and that is simply what K-Staters do,&1xbet online sports betting ; DeGroat said.
Basrah 1xbet online sports betting was once a crown jewel in the higher education system of the Middle East, DeGroat said.
&1xbet online sports betting ;During our visit we discovered years of atrophy and neglect, but we also met committed, brave and persistent university leaders hoping for a brighter day,&1xbet online sports betting ; he said. &1xbet online sports betting ;K-State wants, in some small way, to be part of this new dawn for Basrah University and its students.&1xbet online sports betting ;
Saddam Hussein once forced Iraqi universities to follow strict textbook guidelines, but those rules have since been lifted.
&1xbet online sports betting ;In Iraq a lot of the old textbooks have been destroyed, looted or burned, and now there's a tremendous shortage of textbooks,&1xbet online sports betting ; said retired Army Col. Gary LaGrange, who founded Help Us Learn ... Give us Hope in 2008. &1xbet online sports betting ;Teachers and professors at all levels have made pleas to us to send them books.&1xbet online sports betting ;
Some of the roughly 10,000 textbooks collected from K-State students, staff and faculty will be shipped later this year from the Manhattan National Guard Armory to Iraq with a deploying military unit. Troops will deliver textbooks and school supplies to Basrah 1xbet online sports betting , which will distribute leftover books to other schools and libraries in southern Iraq.
&1xbet online sports betting ;We're helping empower Basrah University to be the champion for rebuilding Iraq's education system,&1xbet online sports betting ; DeGroat said.
This effort isn't the first time 1xbet online sports betting has provided textbooks to universities in the war-torn countries of Iraq and Afghanistan. 1xbet online sports betting has donated a total of about 25,000 textbooks to Help Us Learn ... Give us Hope.
K-State Libraries, the College of Engineering and the department of English donated books to Kabul 1xbet online sports betting and Balkh 1xbet online sports betting in Afghanistan from 2007 to 2009, said Daryl Youngman, associate professor at K-State Libraries.
The donations to Basrah 1xbet online sports betting could launch more partnerships between K-State and the Iraqi 1xbet online sports betting , DeGroat said.
&1xbet online sports betting ;Much remains to be done, but we are off to a sound start,&1xbet online sports betting ; he said. &1xbet online sports betting ;We envision the textbook donation project as a powerful first step that shows we are committed.&1xbet online sports betting ;
Those interested in donating books or school supplies can visit http://www.helpuslearngiveushope.org to learn more.