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Civil Affairs captain gets kids off the street and into orphanages

Army News Service

By Spc. Ryan Smith July 10, 2003

BAGHDAD (Army News Service, July 10, 2003) - A captain is walking the streets of Baghdad looking for homeless kids who would be willing to go to an orphanage.

Concerned civilian journalists who stay in the nearby hotels first brought the problem of homeless children to the attention of Capt. Stacey Simms, a Civil Affairs team leader.

One of the obstacles that Simms faces in trying to help these children is that they were often treated poorly in state-run homes, he said. They were threatened and frequently abused.

Simms is with the 422nd Civil Affairs Battalion, an Army Reserve unit from Greensboro, N.C. Unfortunately, there is little Simms can do for kids who refuse to leave the streets, except to return later to provide them whatever assistance he can.

"I can only help people who are willing to help themselves," Simms said.

Near a U.S. military checkpoint outside the Palestine Hotel, Simms met Amar, an 11-year-old boy who said he does not know his family. Amar, who wore a filthy T-shirt that would have been baggy on a large adult, said he survives by begging for food and water off of soldiers and other people around the hotels.

The boy once lived at a government-run institution for juvenile delinquents and homeless children in Baghdad, but left at the start of the war when the home was shut down. Amar said that he did not want to go back to an orphanage because he was afraid of being beaten.

A teenager that Simms spoke to said that he was beaten for joking around with other children at Dar al Rahma. If the children could have seen the conditions at the two orphanages that Simms visited July 3, it might have changed their minds.

Simms visited two Catholic homes for girls in Baghdad. One was at the Saint Hannah church; the other was the Zapharania orphanage.

Both orphanages are home to girls ages 6 and up, and needed supplies and repairs. But they were in relatively good condition, compared with other places in the city, Simms said. Neither was damaged badly by combat or looting.

The nuns that run the orphanages told Simms of their needs - food, plumbing repairs, air conditioning, clothes, and so on - they also said the girls were excited to meet American soldiers.

Their needs will be met by a number of different organizations, Simms said. The military, along with private organizations, will begin to provide assistance as soon as possible.

Simms plans to return to both orphanages soon to further assess their needs and to help them with their supply and repair issues.

"We see the results almost immediately," he said. "It's incredibly rewarding. It's my life's work while I'm here."

(Editor's note: Spc. Ryan Smith is a journalist with the 372nd Mobile Public Affairs Detachment in Iraq.)