The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has arranged for $17,000 worth of school supplies to be transported to children in Afghanistan. The shipment departed Delaware's Dover Airforce Base on Wednesday, July 10, aboard a U.S. military aircraft, and is scheduled to arrive at Bagram Air Base outside of Kabul, Afghanistan later this month.
The supplies, collected by American and Canadian school children, include more than 12,000 pounds of pencils, pens, crayons, reams of paper, and colored markers. These materials were then donated to the U.S. based affiliate of the international charity, Chances for Children, established in 1994 by Duchess of York Sarah Ferguson. Once in Afghanistan, the goods will be distributed by Chances for Children, and delivered to schools throughout the country.
This shipment was made possible through the Denton program, a commodities transportation program jointly administered by USAID, the Department of State and the Department of Defense. Using extra cargo space on U.S. military transport, the Denton program provides nongovernmental organizations or private citizens with transportation for shipping humanitarian goods and equipment at little or no cost.
The idea for this airlift developed out of an appearance by the Duchess of York on Larry King Live, in which she discussed the needs of children in Afghanistan. Following the broadcast, a group of school children contacted Chances for Children to learn what type of school supplies would be of most use, and within a few months they had collected six tons of school supplies.
This is the first shipment of privately donated goods to Afghanistan under the Denton program. Last year the Denton program moved over 1,500 tons of humanitarian aid to countries all over the world.