Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Benjamin Cossel | Lancaster, Ohio resident Sgt. Natasha Swarts with the Ohio Army National Guard's 186th...... read more read more
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By Spc. Benjamin Cossel
196th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment
LA CEIBA, Honduras - Choking back tears, Ohio Army National Guardsman Sgt. Natasha Swarts cleared her throat, "So many bad things have happened to these kids in their lives. To be able to do just one thing that can help so many â?¦ I've got goose bumps all over."
Soldiers from the Ohio National Guard's 186th Engineering Detachment are working to finish electrical wiring and fixtures at a school that will serve the 24 boys housed at the Niños de la Luz (Children of the Light) Orphanage in La Ceiba, Honduras.
In addition to serving the boys at the orphanage, the school, with a maximum capacity of 180 students, will open to the public.
Serendipity Strikes
Swarts first encountered Niños de la Luz director, Bill Kwiatkowski by accident.
"We were at Expatriates having dinner and Bill was there," said the Lancaster, Ohio resident. "We began talking and he told us about the orphanage. I knew immediately I wanted to at least get out there and see the kids."
Kwiatkowski told the Soldiers how his facility was mainly built by the charity of others - a missionary group from Canada built the playground and missionaries with the Mission of Hope from Michigan built the two main buildings that house the children along with a joint kitchen and dining facility.
Kwiatkowski's story touched the Soldiers with Swarts at dinner, all of them walked away wanting to do something with the little bit of time they had.
Swarts and the Soldiers of the 186th Eng. Det. are currently serving their annual two-week training as part of New Horizons 2006 - Honduras. The chance encounter happened during Swart's first full day in country.
It would be almost a week and a half later before Swarts would finally make it to the compound.
Getting There
On the morning of April 6, New Horizons Chaplain (Capt.) John Shipman meet up with Warrant Officer Bruce Landeg of the 186th Eng. Det. to make the trip to the orphanage.
Shipman had heard of the orphanage through his assistant, Senior Airman Michael Meade.
"Mike's been heavily involved with the orphanage since he got here," said Shipman, "And I wanted to support his efforts."
Landeg met Shipman during a Sunday service where the orphanage came up in conversation. Landing had been with Swarts the evening they encountered Kwiatkowski and he too wanted to get to the facility to offer whatever he could.
The opportunity finally presented itself and the three made their way to the compound.
Kwiatkowski met them at the compound where he walked them around, showing each of the buildings and stopping at the kitchen for lunch. All of the children of the orphanage were seated eating their meal of chicken and rice, potato salad and vegetables.
Kwiatkowski walked around introducing the children to each of the guests.
"These kids have had a very hard life. Some have been sexually abused, others were involved with gangs or drugs. But we don't discriminate - we take all kids, refusing to ever give up hope."
Finishing up lunch, the tour of the facility continued. Pointing to the schoolhouse, Kwiatkowski noted that while much of the work was done, much work was still needed.
"Building a school house has always been a part of our projected plan," said Kwiatkowski.
Kwiatkowski then explained that, in his opinion, teachers of Honduras where not nearly as dedicated as their American counter-parts.
"A lot of the teachers just collect a paycheck and never even show up. It's not like American teachers where they're passionate about teaching. My kids were regularly going to school and then just coming right back home because there was no teacher to give the class. So we decided to build our own school, try and get teachers from the state to staff it, and open it up to the kids in this area."
Much to Kwiatkowski's surprise, a group from Wisconsin showed up at his doorstep one day saying they wanted to build a school house.
"Unfortunately, they ran out of money before the project could be completed," said Kwiatkowski. "So, we're now fixing things as we can. We're still about $16,000 â?¦ short of what we need."
One of the items left incomplete was some of the wiring and all of the fixtures in the building. When Kwiatkowski explained to Shipman and Landeg what was left, an idea struck Landeg.
"You know," said Landeg to Kwiatkowski, "we have a sergeant with us who is a master electrician (Swarts) back in her civilian job. If we could get her and some other folks out here to wire up this building, would that help?"
"That would be a blessing," responded Kwiatkowski.
Soldiers to the Rescue
The focus of New Horizons is training for the engineers and medical personal that fill out the staff, a side benefit being the permanent structures and medical relief the U.S. service members leave behind. Prior to the operations commencement, projects sites are established and currently, five locations are under construction. Working at the orphanage was never apart of the original plan.
Before the electricians of the 186th could get to work, the project needed approval from Task Force commander, Air Force Maj. Toney Riley.
According to Landeg, Riley didn't have a problem with the Soldiers of the 186th working at the orphanage but transportation and security were a concern.
"Bill (Kwiatkowski) agreed to pick up and drop off as many personnel as we could provide and Major Riley agreed that with the compound being gated and so close to the base, extra force protection wasn't needed."
Pulling up his bright red pick-up truck to the base gate at 8 a.m. on April 11, Kwiatkowski carried the four Soldiers of the 186th Eng. Det. out to the orphanage to begin work. A week and half of waiting was finally over for Swarts.
"I glad to finally get out here. There's a lot to do and I know with the expertise we have we'll be able to do a lot of good work in the little bit of time that we have left," said Swarts.
Columbus, Ohio resident Spc. Kenneth Thompson with the 186th Eng. Det. agreed.
"There's a lot of hard work to be done but this has been the best experience out of anything I've done here so far." said Thompson.
With only four days left in their rotation, the four Soldiers are working feverishly to get as much done as possible but for Swarts, safety won't be compromised for speed.
"We're making sure that everything is properly grounded and marked â?¦just taking the extra time to make sure everything is as safe as possible," said Swarts who has more than eight years experience as a journeyman (Master) electrician with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.
It is the hope of Swarts that rotations replacing hers will continue the work started and the orphanage will be the legacy of the 186th Eng. Det. in Honduras.
But no matter what future rotations do, for the Soldiers of the 186th running wires, attaching fans and securing service entry points - the work they've done will stay with them forever.
"To know that every time one of these kids turns on a light in their classroom â?¦ that's something we did," said Thompson. "They may never know who we are, but every time the lights come on, that's our work. This is something I'll never forget, to be able to work on something that people will appreciate, that just makes you feel good."
| Date Taken: | 04.13.2006 |
| Date Posted: | 04.13.2006 15:08 |
| Story ID: | 6007 |
| Location: | LA CEIBA, HN |
| Web Views: | 369 |
| Downloads: | 281 |
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