University News
U.S. Army Reserve Officer to Cover Afghan Literacy Project Success March 22
March 11, 2011
MACOMB, IL -- On Tuesday, March 22, the Western Illinois University campus and Macomb community will have the opportunity to hear from Lt. Michael O'Neill, a U.S. Army Reserve officer instrumental in the development of an innovative children's literacy initiative in Panjshir Province, Afghanistan.
Last year, O'Neill -- with the help of his family, students at his children's school and members of his family's Narberth (PA) community, as well as from the publisher Hoopoe Press -- helped start a project that will deliver millions of books, authored by Afghan-born author Idries Shah, to the hands of Afghani children. "Operation: Read It Again! — Delivering Dreams" started with just 3,000-4,000 books, and according to a video posted on NBC Philadelphia's website earlier this week (March 8), with the help of a grant, the initiative is on track to deliver two million books to Afghani children.
According to Lance Ternasky, associate dean for graduate studies, research and innovation in WIU's College of Education and Human Services, at 6 p.m. Tuesday, March 22, O'Neill will be talking about the literacy project -- which is based on books that contain native Afghan fables -- and other innovative collaborations among members of the U.S. military, citizens and religious and political leaders in Afghanistan. O'Neill, who is an Army Reservist team leader for a civil-affairs unit in Panjshir Province, will deliver his presentation in Horrabin Hall 78 on the WIU Macomb campus. It is open free to the public.
Ternasky explained that private foundation funds from the California Community Foundation are helping bring O'Neill to WIU's Macomb campus and noted that O'Neill's experiences intersect well with the interests of students, faculty and staff in COEHS's military science department, as well as with Western's status as a military friendly school. Though, he added, the entire WIU and Macomb community may be interested to hear about how this literacy project is establishing connections between the local population of Panjshir Province and U.S. troops on the ground there.
"My wife, Willa Moore, has worked with Hoopoe, and we knew the importance of these 'teaching stories' in the culture of Afghanistan, so we were thrilled to hear of this project, which bubbled up from the servicemen and local people there," Ternasky explained. "This 'little' idea of books being shared with Afghani kids has grown into a U.S. State Department-funded initiative. Kids, parents, teachers, tribal elders and religious leaders are all pleased with the outcome of this initiative. Potentially, it will help millions of Afghani children and their families, because, with the assistance of the State Department grant, the books will now be distributed throughout Afghanistan. There will be teacher trainings and even 'literacy radio.' We are honored that Lieutenant O'Neill will visit us here at WIU to share his experiences," he added.
Ternasky said that while on campus, O'Neill will also address women's issues in Afghanistan (via individual class and program presentations) including Female Engagement Teams (FETs), Afghan women's empowerment groups, as well as legal efforts involving women and children's issues in Afghanistan.
Developing "Delivering Dreams"
You can find more information about the "Operation: Read It Again! -- Delivering Dreams" initiative via the website at www.operationreaditagain.org. The site provides basic information about the initiative via its home page and provides a conduit through which individuals can donate to support the initiative.
"One dollar can buy one book and make an Afghan child's dream come true," the home page of the "Operation: Read It Again! -- Delivering Dreams" website states. "The books will be printed in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan. They will be written in the native languages of Afghanistan (Pashto and Dari). Once the books are printed they are packed up and delivered by U.S. soldiers stationed in Afghanistan. The books are mostly delivered in the Panjshir area. All the books are native Afghan fables, which are provided by Hoopoe Books, an imprint of The Institute for the Study of Human Knowledge. For about 95 percent of the kids, this will be the first book that they have ever owned."
Information is also available about the initiative via its Facebook page at www.facebook.com/Operation.Read.It.Again.
According to an article published on DVIDs (Defense Video and Imagery Distribution System), O'Neill said the initiative began as a community-service fundraiser at his children's elementary school. The books are "illustrated books written by Afghan author, Idries Shah. Shah is an Afghan-born, British-educated writer and educator dedicated to preserving Afghan culture," states the article's author, U.S. Army Sgt. Matthew Ryan.
In an interview with Doug Shimell from NBC Philadelphia, O'Neill said on camera, "It's not just the children, the parents love them. The religious leaders, the political leaders, everybody loved these. Because they're their stories, they're their childhood stories -- essentially the 'Mother Goose' stories of Afghanistan."
In the DVIDS article, O'Neill is quoted saying about the project: "The children who can read are bringing them home and reading them to their families who can't read.... This promotes literacy and gets their family excited about reading. Additionally, it allows the teachers another avenue to promote Afghan social values through these stories."
A July 27, 2010, online article, "Narberth family raising books funds for Afghan children" by Richard Ilgenfritz in the Pennsylvania-based "Main Line Times," details how O'Neill and his wife were essential in the initiative.
O'Neill and his family were honored earlier this week by the State of Pennsylvania's House of Representatives in Harrisburg, which is covered in the Tuesday, March 8 "Heroes: Home & Away" segment on NBC Philadelphia's website at www.nbcphiladelphia.com/on-air/as-seen-on/Heroes_Home___Away__Helping_Afghan_Kids_Read_Philadelphia-117623518.html.
O'Neill, who has experience as an adjunct instructor at St. Joseph's University (Philadelphia, PA) and Ogeechee Tech College (Statesboro, GA), recently served as the Civil Affairs Team (CAT) Leader for Provincial Reconstruction Team Panjshir, Forward Operating Base Lion, in Afghanistan. He earned his B.S. in chemical engineering from Michigan State University in 1993; his master's degree in forensic psychology in 2003 from the John Jay College of Criminal Justice; and he is currently a doctoral candidate at Fielding Graduate University (Santa Barbara, CA).
For more information about O'Neill's visit to WIU, contact Dana Moon, director of marketing and community relations for the College of Education and Human Services, at (309) 298-1690 or DM-Moon@wiu.edu.
Posted By: University Communications (U-Communications@wiu.edu)
Office of University Communications & Marketing
Connect with us: