Photo By Tatum Vayavananda | Local children watch from the top of a hill as Lance Cpl. John E. Fitzpatrick and...... read more read more
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TOPOLOG, Romania – Marine reserve civil affairs specialists and combat engineers of Black Sea Rotational Force 11 travelled north to villages in the Topolog region to reach out and directly impact remote communities and local schools by building a school fence in Calfa village and passing out small donations to schools in Mandra, Cerbu, Luminata, and Margurele.
About 108km north of Constanta, out beyond the far, silhouetted stretches of rolling hills, where the curtain of grey sky cuts the endless green of farmland, and modern, seemingly-alien windmills inconsistently adorn the constant landscape, lies the commune of Topolog in Tulcea County. Civil affairs and combat engineer Marines from Black Sea Rotational Force 11 have been the talk of the town here as they build, engage and touch small, remote and seemingly-forgotten communities.
Beyond BSRF-11’s mission to advise foreign militaries in counter-insurgency and peace-keeping operations, there exists their mission to promote stability in the region and provide community relations projects that assistance and improve the local areas where the Marines are operating. Calfa, one of seven small villages in Topolog, experienced this first hand when combat engineers set forth to build a school fence in their town.
Reserve Marines from Marine Wing Support Squadrons 471 and 472, from Mount Clemens, Mich., and Chicopee, Mass., with BSRF-11, installed 800 linear-feet of six-foot-high, chain-link fence to keep the domesticated, and undomesticated, animals out of the school’s play area, said Cpl. Kyle A, Dugas, combat engineer, BSRF-11.
“The area definitely needed a fence because there were a few instances with cattle and wild dogs coming into the schoolyard,” added the Plainville, Conn., native.
“There was no restriction to the area,” said Tihnea Viorica, the kindergarten teacher at Calfa Kindergarten. The fence was built for keeping cattle and unwanted visitors out, safety reasons for the children, and to better the appearance of the school.
“In Romania, it’s a custom for every institution to distinguish its property,” she said, “and now we have that.”
Calfa, like other villages in the commune, is a small farming town. Herds of cattle and chickens are just as likely to be trotting along the improvised dirt paths as a horse-drawn carriage rolling between its rustic buildings. Many of the locals live off the land, work and associate between the villages and the larger towns of Topolog, but are otherwise untouched by the influences of “modern society.”
The combat engineers worked with the BSRF-11 Civil Affairs team, reservists from 4th Civil Affairs Group, Washington D.C., to contract the project and also explore the community and engaging with surrounding towns, said Gunnery Sgt. Giannina Pinedo, civil affairs chief, BSRF-11.
“Marines are already making national news in this country but it’s always good to reach out to the smaller communities to make a smaller, but still significant, positive impact,” she added. The civil affairs Marines help liaison between the local population and the military commander during military presence in war and peacetime.
In an area with the lowest population density of the country and an average of 50 families to a village, it’s hard to be heard.
“We listen to the locals about what they need in terms of critical infrastructure to schools, hospitals, roads, etc.,” said Pinedo. “Once we can settle the contracting for these projects, the engineers come in with their expertise to help build the project.”
“When the Marines first came to town, we thought it was a windmill company that has come to close down the school and we were scared because we don’t get any visitors,” said Victoria Serban, the 75-year-old Calfa village elder. She was relieved to hear that Marines were bringing their resources to improve the school.
“I have lived in Calfa my entire life, in this house for 55 years,” she said, “ and the villages, except for when they built the main [road way], have remained in their own time.”
Both Viorica and Serban reflected that even though the fence is being built for the school, it will leave a greater impact and positive impression on the entire village and surrounding communities.
“It’s great that [Marines] came up here,” Serban said, “it is a reminder that the village has not been forgotten.”
Along with the fence project in Calfa, the civil affairs team reached out to schools in the villages of Mandra, Cerbu, Luminata, and Margurele, passing out donated soccer balls, snacks and interacting with different activities with the children, said Pinedo.
“When the weather is nice, we go outside and play soccer, we show them what a [Meal Ready-to-Eat] is and let them taste it and we just play around,” added the Fairfield, Conn., native.
“It’s one thing to come here and build something on a military base or government compound, but it’s another thing to go out to one of these small communities and get to directly impact and help people who have a hard enough time helping themselves,” said Dugas.
“I want them to be able to look back 30 years from now and tell their kids ‘I remember when I was 10 and [U.S.] Marines came to my town and built that fence.’ I want to leave that positive impression,” Dugas said.
“You don’t have to do a whole lot for these people,” said Pinedo, “… they’ve spent generations taking care of themselves, but every little thing we do with them will leave a great future impact. Think about the kindergartener who grows up, moves into the city, gets educated, and becomes a political leader. They will remember, back when they were little, back when they lived in that small town up north, back when they thought they were forgotten, that U.S. Marines came to help their village and that they came as friends. That legacy is all we can ask for.”
| Date Taken: | 05.05.2011 |
| Date Posted: | 05.05.2011 10:44 |
| Story ID: | 69882 |
| Location: | TOPOLOG, RO |
| Web Views: | 89 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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