As so many of Spirit of America projects do, the request for water barrels began as a simple heart-felt letter from a soldier who spends his days and nights with the people of Iraq. SFC Brian Soper with the Army National Guard from Minneapolis, Minnesota, has been patrolling an area of rural Iraq just north of the Baghdad International Airport (BIAP) since April 2004. During his time in country, he has come to know the people of Iraq’s arid land and can appreciate their hard work and dedication to the refurbishment of their once productive farmland. So contacting Spirit of America, was an easy decision.

As Brian described to us in that first contact letter, the water that the people of the land near the BIAP use for their drinking, bathing and crops is in short supply. For those without a water supply like a well at their house, they are forced to go to a neighbor’s home, (which is often miles away on foot) to obtain water. The canals that used to service this area of Baghdad have been either destroyed or diverted due to security reasons at the airport and were already at breaking point from years of no upkeep under the former regime. These canals now suffer additionally from sabotage and diversions that cause them to completely dry up in places during the very season that the water is needed most. So the people of the area are left without potable drinking water or water for their fields while their children, often no older than 6, have to carry the water for miles on wheel barrels or buckets on their heads to their families.

According to Sergeant Soper, though Civil Affairs has long-term projects in the works to remedy all of these existing problems, the current situation was quickly becoming a crisis. So at Brian’s request, Spirit of America was able to spring into action and almost immediately located a dealer in Iraq from whom to obtain water barrels that could both be used as storage and as a source of potable water. The 250, 25-gallon barrels shipped from the dealer Arabian Systems Company LLC in Dubai, U.A.E. to Baghdad and then it was SFC Soper’s chance to do his part by having his battery pickup, fill and distribute the barrels to the very grateful families!

It is a comfort to know that after only 8 weeks from the time of SFC Soper’s letter to us, SoA was able to help the Iraqi population obtain both drinking water and water for everyday use. Army Major Rob Misajon wrote to us of the successful delivery of the barrels:

//"The water containers Spirit of America provided were distributed in the Radwahniya'a Nahia of Western Baghdad. This area is primarily agricultural / rural farmland and economically depressed. As I'm sure SFC Soper told you, potable water is an issue, water piped to the house is a rare exception, not the rule, so the water containers are very welcome. We have worked with the Iraqi Red Crescent to construct compact water treatment stations so there is potable water in the area that the containers can be filled with and then brought home.

A big part of what we are trying to do here is help the government establish credibility and the Nahia Advisory Council is the ground level of the government, so we try to help them out as much as we can. The council members were extremely grateful for the donations and have asked us to help them get a letter of thanks to Spirit of America." //