Photo By Senior Master Sgt. Krystie Martinez | Volunteers from Transit Center at Manas and Uventus School students pose for a group...... read more read more
TRANSIT CENTER AT MANAS, Kyrgyzstan - Airmen from Transit Center at Manas, Kyrgyzstan, recently visited a school for adults with mental disabilities.
Building partnerships is a TCM mission pillar that allows people deployed here to interact with the local community. The Transit Center 5/6 Council helps execute that mission pillar by coordinating visits to the Uventus School twice a month to provide donations and socialize with the students.
"The Uventus School is a learning and rehabilitation center for teens and adults with mental disabilities, and is designed to help transition the students into productive members of the Kyrgyz society," said Columbus, Ohio, native Tech. Sgt. Joshua Worch, 376th Air Expeditionary Wing Theater Security Cooperation, noncommissioned officer in charge of humanitarian assistance and volunteer coordinator, deployed from Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. "The students are also taught social and trade skills."
Nearly half of the students are adult orphans and call the Uventus School their home. The lack of funding only allows the school to support 20 students, which results in a waiting list for those trying to get accepted. Donations and selling handmade crafts keep the school running.
"We are trying to do everything possible to develop the students," said Buslaeva Svetlana Leonidovna, Uventus School director or as the students call her, "Mama."
"The goal is for them to live on their own, and feel somewhat accepted in society. We are always happy to get any sort of help and the kids are very happy to meet the volunteers."
Leonidovna said the Transit Center volunteers have had a positive impact on the school and the students.
The volunteers continue to visit the school not only to bring donations but because of the friendships built between them and the students.
"It's important for us to stay active in the local community because when the governments and agencies and money are all stripped away, we are all just people," said Col. John Vaughn, 376th Air Expeditionary Wing vice commander and volunteer deployed from Camp H.M. Smith, Hawaii, and Granville, Ohio, native. "People who want to help other people; that's where humanity lies, and we shouldn't forget that."
| Date Taken: | 11.07.2013 |
| Date Posted: | 11.12.2013 04:49 |
| Story ID: | 116563 |
| Location: | TRANSIT CENTER AT MANAS, KG |
| Hometown: | COLUMBUS, OH, US |
| Hometown: | GRANVILLE, OH, US |
| Web Views: | 79 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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