Deployed Airmen teach English to Kyrgyzstan kids

Photo By Lance Cheung | After providing English tutoring for 50 students at Lyceum vocational school, the services students treated the airmen to the pasteries they made for them. Donations to the school were made later in the visit. The in-residence vocational school is home for more than 200 local boys and girls, ages 14-18. Here, they are taught the basics in high demand skills for the Bishkek region. The training in tailoring, mechanics, agriculture and services allow the children, who in most cases were abandoned, orphaned or simply poor; a better opportunity to gain employment in the local economy. Manas Air Base Outreach Society is a non-profit organization established at Manas Air Base in December 2003. Lyceum is one of its several focus groups that have donated more than 17,000 man-hours, $65,000 and 40,000 pounds of donations to heart operations, heating fuel, construction projects, elderly stipends, trips, and daily administration costs. (U.S. Air Force photo/Master Sgt. Lance Cheung)  

04.11.2006

Courtesy Story

DVIDS Hub       

By Staff Sgt. Kevin Nichols, Central Air Forces News Team

JANI JER, Kyrgyzstan - Kids in Kyrgyzstan have a future, and for some it begins at a vocational school here called Lyceum #43, where teens - some orphaned, many of them from the streets - are learning valuable trades in their country like farming, sewing and cooking.

Today, with the help of volunteers from the American military base just a few miles away, they're also learning the English language.

During hectic deployment hours and long work-weeks, Airmen from Central Command Air Force's Manas Air Base in Kyrgyzstan still find time to help out the local community through the Manas Air Base Outreach Society, better known locally as MABOS. They sponsor many trips off base to help local orphanages, a children's cancer center, and around six other programs.

Volunteers from Manas AB attempted to break the language barrier at the Lyceum school for kids around 14 to 18 years of age.

"Hello my name is Robert. How are you," asked Staff Sgt. Robert Galusha, a supply troop with the 376th Expeditionary Logistics Readiness Squadron at Manas AB.

"I am fine, thank you," answered a local kid in Sgt. Galusha's class as he studied his English worksheet full of conversation examples.

Staff Sgt. Lara Gale from Manas AB's Public Affairs office provided the worksheets that kids worked with at the school to answer Sgt. Galusha's questions. She's the Focus Group Leader of the Lyceum School program. Volunteering her off-time away from her deployed mission as the Non-commissioned Officer in Charge of Public Affairs just seems like the right thing to do.

"We get one day off (at Manas) and I like to maximize my time while deployed," said Sgt. Gale, a Reserve member deployed from the 419th Fighter Wing at Hill Air Force Base, Utah. "I like to use that time to make good things happen," the Salt Lake City native said.

Kids were divided into several groups and rotated through each one. While some kids worked on conversation skills, others played games that involved speaking English. Sgt. Gale, who taught English in Russia for six months, said by remembering key phrases in games, they'll better retain their English knowledge.

Combining language skills with their technical skills will make these kids a versatile commodity in a country where young people can make a difference, said 1st Lt. Chris Marriott, another volunteer from Manas AB.
"English is a pretty world-renown language and the influence we have on the people out in the community and around the base is very important," he said.

Lt. Marriot, a KC-135 pilot with the 22nd Expeditionary Air Refueling Squadron here, volunteered to teach English words, numbers and the A-B-Cs to a class in another room of the school.

"Whenever (the kids) go out into the world and start leading communities and getting into businesses, they'll be able to speak a language that'll be a good basis for it, and be able to have a good education," the Moorhead, Ky. native said.

In Lt. Marriot's class, the kids studied writing English and reading words from the chalkboard. After working for about 30 minutes, Lt Marriott asked for volunteers to come to the board and give writing a try. They worked on common words like pencil, door and shirt.

Back in Sgt. Galusha's class, one teenage boy worked on saying what he does in school.

"Yes. I am a student (with help from Sgt. Galusha) and I study tourism."

"Where do you live," Sgt. Galusha asked him.

"I live in Kyrgyzstan."

"Very good. Next," Sgt. Galusha continued down the row of students anxiously awaiting their turn to tryout their new English skills.

"Many of the students are very eager to learn," said Sgt. Galusha, an Air National Guard Airman deployed from the 175th Wing in Maryland, his home state. "A lot of them know more English words than they let on to know."

Jim Carney, a MABOS Consultant and charter member, explained that some of the local villagers wonder why the Americans from Manas AB are helping so much. Activities like these are helping to build relationships.

"It shows the base is a good neighbor," he said. "There are more than people in uniforms out here. They're real people and the (local nationals) find out that (Americans) are more than just military. They're very generous, and very human."

Hopefully the kids will not only pick up an English lesson or two from these volunteer Airmen, he said, but also recognize the power of individuals to make good things happen " a lesson that will last them well into the future.

• Date Taken: 04.11.2006
• Date Posted: 04.11.2006 12:24
• Story ID: 5994