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Deployed service members make time for Kyrgyz grandmas

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Tammie Moore
  • 376th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
The hardest part of a deployment for many service members is being away from family.

Some seek to overcome the loneliness caused by being separated from their loved ones by burying themselves in work, others by exercising and some choose to become involved in their new community.

A common desire for companionship recently brought members the Manas Area Benefit Outreach Society together with three elderly women, the Babushkas, in Bishkek. Babushka is the Russian word for grandma.

Army Spc. Jayna Marks-Rench meet the Babushkas for the first time Oct. 25, but before she made the trip she committed to the program by becoming the Babushka focus group leader.

"I'm heavily involved with MABOS and I just felt like it was something else I could take on," said Marks-Rench, who is also the MABOS vice president.

Members of MABOS travel to Bishkek twice a month to spend time with the three Babushkas, who are all in poor health and on a limited budget, struggling to make ends meet. During the visits MABOS members treat the Babushkas to lunch, provide them each with grocery and hygiene items, and help them cover some of their prescription costs.

Marks-Rench plans to strengthen the Babushka program during her time at the Transit Center.

"Most of them are really lonely; two of them don't have any family left in Kyrgyzstan," said Marks-Rench, deployed to the Transit Center as a customs official from the Minnesota Army National Guard. "I want to do something for them on our Thanksgiving and Christmas. I want to have a nice dinner and give them some gifts, so the holiday season should be fun."

During the lunch the Babushkas shared photos and stories from their past. One even had a game and gave each winner a pair of socks she knitted.

This was also the first time Senior Airman Christian Mendez visited with the Babushkas.

"It was awesome; it was a really nice experience," said Mendez, a 376th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron electronical systems journeyman deployed from MacDill Air Force Base, Fla. "All of the ladies loved it, you could tell they were enjoying their time."

Mendez spends his days off volunteering with any of the nine MABOS-sponsored outreach programs he can.

"Every day off, I volunteer," said the native of Arecibo, Puerto Rico. "I wish everybody would go to one of these trips at least once. I tell everyone to go on all of the trips they can and to get to know the people around here."

MABOS is a private organization established in 2003 as a means for Airmen deployed to the Transit Center to aid organizations and people in the areas surrounding the installation.

"Whether you are building a structure or just visiting with the Babushkas, the most rewarding part of any of the MABOS missions I have been on is seeing the happy faces at the end of the day," said Marks-Rench, a native of Rochester, Minn.