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About Us
Mission
Books For Baghdad seeks to facilitate higher education in Iraq and the Middle East by providing books, supplies and training while promoting partnerships with educational institutions in the United States.
Books for Baghdad has no religious or political affiliations and is a project of Jacksonville State University Foundation in Jacksonville, Alabama.
Accomplishments
Since 2004, Books for Baghdad has been a non-profit project fiscally sponsored by Jacksonville State University in Jacksonville, Alabama. Due to our continued success and likelihood of future achievements; we have decided to continue this humanitarian effort. We have shipped to Baghdad University more than 31,000 books and 6,500 dollars worth of school supplies.
Education in Iraq
Prior to 1991, Iraq had one of the most advanced education systems in cicekci the Middle East. As a result of wars, repression and thirteen years of international sanctions imposed by the United Nations, most of the universities and technical colleges were stripped from basic educational resources. Due to the continuous unrest in Iraq, the education sector has been largely neglected and it needs the help of all those who believe in the importance of education.
Information about Iraq:
http://www3.nationalgeographic.com/places/countries/country_iraq.html
Background: Books for Baghdad
Books for Baghdad is the brainchild of Safaa Al-Hamdani, a 1977 graduate of Baghdad University and currently an American citizen teaching biology at Jacksonville State University. In 2002, Dr. Al-Hamdani was a Fulbright scholar at Yarmouk University in Jordan where he met many of the Iraqi educators and became familiar with the unacceptable status of the education system in Iraq. When word of the massive destruction of the libraries began to circulate, Safaa contacted them and asked how he could help. Not surprisingly, they wanted books, so he began a small, local book drive with the help of the faculty, students and staff at Jacksonville State University. Over the next year, books came in from all over the nation, and by January 2005, they had collected 11,000 books and $6,500 dollars worth of school supplies. It was so successful that another drive was held earlier this year (2006) and within 4 months, another 20,000 books were collected and where delivered to the University of Baghdad, courtesy of International Relief and Development.
Our Current Situation
As a result of our success in the Books for Baghdad project, we have continuous offers for books from around the country as well as continued demand from our partners in Iraq. We have decided to carry the project for an additional year. In addition, we have had an extraordinary response from the public and have heard nothing but overwhelming encouragement from all sectors. We believe that as we continue to have success with the organization and our partner universities, we can better convey to the Iraqis the generous goodwill of Americans, while raising the profile here of the extraordinary educational and democratic benefits that will be achieved.
We are welcoming any contributions of books, money, computers and educational supplies to advance this project forward. We are concentrating in collecting books in the areas of math, science, medicine, and technology to be used as textbooks for college students.
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