1. Mid-July we dropped in on an orphanage in Adhamiyah that houses 50 boys. We dropped off some clothes, shoes, vitamins, toys and of course soccer balls. The teenage ones were obviously more interested in the soccer ball than stuffed animals. Adhamiyah is the mostly Sunni area in East Baghdad that is the site of some of the most horrific sectarian violence and hate crimes.

2. TD with Nsaif, the Director of the Iraqi Assistance Center reviewing the location of 2,800 homeless (Shia) displaced by the ongoing sectarian violence and war

3. Dropping Off 400 Food Bags at the Sadr City District Government Building. Iraqi Soldiers pitched in. The two boys below are the typical little “wheeler dealers” you know from every town across the globe – 13 going on 30. We gave them each a soccer ball and cleats for helping bring in the bags.

4. 8AUG06. Giving schools supplies, vitamins, and some limited toys to a kindergarten teacher. She is in charge of three schools and 750 children, mostly 5-7 but some as old as ten. Rumor has it that the education budget only got 10% of the requested and needed funds from Ministry of Education and Ministry of Finance. Sounds like the United States... Summer School is wrapping up and school starts mid- September.

5. She also needed to buy 3 computers and 12 white boards for her classrooms. I director her to her buy them locally using money donated from the states ($1,500). This will also serve the secondary purpose of stimulating the local economy. I will send pictures of the kids and teachers using them by end of October. She has only returned to Iraq in 2004. In the early 80’s her family was one of the many taken out of their homes, put in bus and driven to the Iranian border by Saddam and told to leave. No money, no possessions.