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HA mission brings Airmen to psychological boarding house in TokMok

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Carolyn Viss
  • 376th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
TRANSIT CENTER AT MANAS, Kyrgyzstan --  Airmen from the Transit Center at Manas, Kyrgyzstan, are reaching out to the city of Bishkek and surrounding areas to provide humanitarian assistance.

One such HA mission took place April 14, 2010, in Iskra Village about two hours away from the Transit Center, when Airmen brought food, clothing, and some entertainment items to patients of the TokMok Psychoneurologic Boarding House.

This boarding house, which falls under the Kyrgyz Republic State Agency for Social Security, hosts 255 male patients, and is badly in need of repair and basic amenities, according to a letter written to the director of the Transit Center by the director of the boarding house, Sheraliev K.Sh.

"Today people with disabilities hope for your attention, support and warmth," he wrote. "Please, give them a helping hand and their grateful hearts will always remember you with wishes of success to you."

Voluntarily, through a private organization founded here called the Manas Area Benefit Outreach Society, U.S. service members do this because they've seen an opportunity to help the local community.

At the house, Airmen found what was written in the letter.

"Hygiene is not properly practiced due to the lack of towels, toilet soap, tooth brushes and tooth pastes, toilet paper," Sheraliev said. "It is extremely cold in the dormitory rooms. Currently, patients are wearing galoshes; many of them do not have socks or proper clothing. The roof is leaking in the bathroom of the dorm located on the third floor. All the wire is not insulated; connection boxes are not covered; electrical plugs are not available at all."

Over a generous luncheon of tea and breads, the director expressed his emotional burden for the patients at the house, and said often thinking of them keeps him awake at night.

"We could be here all day if we were to continue to talk about all the needs," he said, and expressed his gratitude for the supplies that were brought and the help that the Transit Center Airmen expressed they wish to give in the future. The civil engineers here sent a site surveyor with the group to document the needs the building has so that they can help in the future.

"My heart hurts because there are so many needs," said head chaplain Lt. Col. James Kinsey. "This is what we are called to do help our fellow man, the children, the orphans, the widowers and those less fortunate than us."

It may seem unconventional to outside observers, but this kind of outreach has become a solid part of the four mission sets of the Transit Center: moving people, fuel, and cargo and humanitarian assistance.

"I love being able to help the local community," said Tech. Sgt. Jamie McCarrison, the 376th Air Expeditionary Wing equal opportunity advisor. "One of my main goals in life is to have a positive influence on those around me. I believe the Air Force has given me a great opportunity to help those around me, by encouraging voluntarism. I am grateful to be assigned to the 376 AEW and be part of the humanitarian mission. I will have memories that will last a lifetime."

"We are in a unique position to be able to help others at many levels by getting out and visiting," she said. "Although we might not be familiar with the local language, the Transit Center likes to convey good will, which needs no spoken language. Good will comes from the heart, and the Transit Center has plenty of heart for the citizens of Kyrgyzstan."