Baghdad, Iraq – November 25, 2009 – The Al-Noor School for the Blind is the only school of its kind in Baghdad. For 71 children, it is the only chance at education they have since mainstream schools cannot handle their special needs. But even the Al-Noor School was struggling to do that without adequate Braille equipment and other supplies.

In September 2009, International Relief & Development (IRD) and the Perkins School for the Blind in Massachusetts teamed up to send a second shipment of equipment to Baghdad. The first shipment in October 2008 had been greatly appreciated, bringing a teacher at the school to tears, but more was still needed. The 2009 shipment included an embosser, a Braille printer that can be linked to a computer, as well as a supply of special Braille paper. This will enable them to print their own textbooks for use in their school and at other schools around the country.

IRD managed the logistics for the shipment, which involved finding container space on a cargo ship from Boston bound for Amman, Jordan, arranging for the cargo to be trucked over 1,000 miles across the desert to Iraq, and then doing the distribution in Baghdad. The shipment was paid for through IRD’s Community Action Program III (Iraq) with funding from U.S. Agency for International Development.

Once the boxes were delivered to Al-Noor on November 20, however, all the hard work was instantly worth it. All the students and teachers were thrilled to receive the supplies, even performing songs for delivery staff. As IRD representative Ernest Leonardo said, “You can see the smiles on the kids—nothing better than that.”