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Eglin Airmen visits Kyrgyzstan "babushkas"

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Angela Ruiz
  • 376th Air Expeditionary Wing
BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan --  Babushka, in Russian, means grandmother or elder woman and is common terminology in Kyrgyzstan.

The volunteers are members of the Manas Area Benefit Outreach Society that sponsors 10 babushkas in the local area. Each babushka is given a quarterly stipend of approximately 2,300 soms that equates to approximately 50 dollars. MABOS sponsors the babushkas through the Babushka Adoption Foundation, a Kyrgyz Republic non-governmental organization that aims to give hope and restore dignity to the elderly.

The Babushka's ages range between 70 to 100 and most walk with canes or have trouble getting in and out of vehicles. But they don't let that stop them from traveling twice a month to have lunch with the MABOS volunteers.

Maria Semenovna Kirichenko is a 91-year-old babushka who has lived here for 71 years. In WWII she performed as a tap dancer to boost morale for military units. Once WWII was over she married and became a math teacher educating children for 40 years. She never had any children of her own due to an illness she fell victim to while pregnant which almost killed her and left her unable to conceive.

"It makes me happy, it's pretty much the only joy in my life--coming here and socializing," Maria said. "I like building friendships. There are many things that people say about Americans, but we can actually see that they are the same people [as us] with needs and desires. We always have fun with our groups."

Knitting is a hobby she enjoys. Maria knits slippers for the MABOS volunteers with the yarn they bring her in an effort to show her appreciation for everything that they do. She has been attending the lunches for about seven years longer than the other babushkas.

"I'm thankful we have funds to help people," said Tech. Sgt. Lisa Rivera. "I feel it is important to take care of our elderly people, we honor these people."

Rivera is the 376th Expeditionary Medical Group NCO in charge of the clinic and is deployed here from the 96th Medical Group at  Eglin Air Force Base, Fla.

"I do this because I want to support the mission that we have here, and also for me it's something that I feel we should be doing in life. I feel that it's a great honor [while being deployed in the Air Force] that we can go out into the community and visit these babushkas; they bring as much joy to us as I hope we do for them."