Photo By Senior Master Sgt. Kendra Owenby | Airmen from the 164th Civil Engineer Squadron, Tennessee Air National Guard, repaint...... read more read more
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Members of the 164th Airlift Wing, 118th Mission Support Group and Civil Engineer Squadron, Tennessee Air National Guard along with Soldiers from the Bulgarian Army, participated in a Humanitarian Civic Assistance effort to remodel a kindergarten school in Kabile, Bulgaria in Aug., 2016.
Senior Master Sgt. Wilbur, 118th Civil Engineer Squadron, explained the various projects the Airmen tackled.
“New tile, new paint, new toilets, kitchen sinks, new laminate flooring in the classroom - a typical renovation project. What we call in America, “down to the studs”.
The Airmen updated antiquated electrical timers, replacing them with new ones to make them safer. Inside they reworked plaster walls, built new “stud” walls for updated plumbing, re-plumbed some of the kitchen area, primed and painted classrooms, installed new lighting, and installed new tile floors. Outside they trimmed hedges, cleared brush to make way for a larger play area, repainted playground equipment and fencing, replaced broken and rotting boards on benches and sitting areas, and rewired antiquated street lights.
The director of the school, Milena Baskoba, said the children’s ages ranged from one to seven years and they would be excited when they return to see all the work that has been done.
Alexandria Rabina, a local Bulgarian who served as the interpreter for the Airmen while they were assigned to the project was interviewed by Capt. Stephanie McKeen, Public Affairs Officer for the 134th Air Refueling Wing, and shared some of her knowledge of the school.
“The ladies here, they are teachers and helpers. If they need to paint something the teachers do it. They’re the ones who interact with the kids and educate the kids. That wing over there is a nursery and the youngest kid is one year and four months old and the kids on this side are ages three to seven...about a total of 40 kids. It’s like preparation for going to school. I remember that we had a little bit of English that was taught.”
Chief Master Sgt. Charles Gregory, 164th Civil Engineer Squadron, and a city electrician in Memphis, TN in his civilian career, explains how the new timer will work.
“The old timer stopped working and is very antiquated…we are adding a receptacle to the panel so the timer here plugs into the receptacle, so they no longer have to worry about manually coming down here (in the basement) and turning on the lights outside in the yard”.
The children had not had full use of their playground area in quite a while. Since there were no tools available to clean off the property, it had become overgrown with weeds and briars. Yard tools such as lawn mowers and weed eaters are not common in the villages. They only have access to simple hand tools such as hoes and rakes. Along with the help of some Bulgarian Army Soldiers, the Airmen were able to uncover parts of the playground that were completely overgrown.
“I didn’t realize Civil Engineering worked so hard”, stated Master Sgt. Nancy Hall, 164th Civil Engineer Squadron. “I used to see them when I was in personnel when they came through with dirty boots”.
Hall, Training Manager for the Civil Engineer Squadron, says she is extremely proud to be part of such a hard working group of young people.
“We have a lot of folks who are learning hands-on what they learned about in tech. school. I tell them, be a sponge! Learn from the senior people because you will be replacing them someday. It’s a lot of teamwork. It has to be 110%. I tell them, take pride in what you do. You are putting your stamp on your work.”
The Airmen left the school with a sense of accomplishment and pride in knowing that their hard work was going to be very rewarding not only for them, but also to the Kabile students for years to come.
| Date Taken: | 08.20.2016 |
| Date Posted: | 08.20.2016 12:13 |
| Story ID: | 207785 |
| Location: | NOVO SELO, BG |
| Web Views: | 421 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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