New Zealand Defence Force
Te Ope Kaatua O Aotearoa

Media Release

13 September 2006

NZ Defence Force supports Rewrite the Future campaign

The NZ Defence Force (NZDF) is pleased to support Save the Children’s Rewrite the Future campaign launched today at Parliament.

The Rewrite the Future campaign aims to get eight million children, living in armed conflict zones, into quality education by 2010.

NZDF personnel deployed overseas often work alongside local communities; facilitating the construction of buildings such as schools, distributing educational material and making the environment safer for children to attend school.

Personnel posted on operational deployment to sites such as East Timor and Afghanistan are proud to be involved in helping to rebuild local communities to enable them to make positive steps to restore safety, educational and medical resources.

Earlier this year personnel in Afghanistan laid the first foundation stones for Bamyan Boys High School, which will accommodate 300 boys from Year 1 to Year 12. The NZ Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) negotiated to purchase land for the school, and has now contacted a local firm to build the school, which is expected to be completed by November 2006.

ENDS

Note to editors: Currently 819 New Zealand Defence Force personnel are deployed on operations, UN missions, and exercises around the world. In all, a total of 18 missions across 13 countries, from Antarctica to the Sudan, Afghanistan to the Solomon Islands. A futher 47 NZDF personnel are based at NZ diplomatic posts overseas.