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The Simin Han
Center for Mothers and Children
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(From
the July 31, 2000 edition of the Tuzla
Times, By SSgt Tredway)
Team Eagle airmen, armed with boxes
of clothes, toiletries, and school supplies, journeyed to the Simin Han
Center for Mothers and Children July 13 to help combat the problems facing
families displaced by Bosnia's three-and-a-half-year civil war. Continuing
a three-year tradition of giving, 36 airmen toted more than 70 boxes of
donated household goods to the nearly 20 women and more than 60 children
who lost their husbands and fathers during the fighting.
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 The Swiss Red Cross stopped aid to the center in May, so aside from the
handmade tapestries they sell and a small amount of money they receive from the government, a large amount of their supplies come from donations
made by Team Eagle troops.
"Without the donations we give, they would have to find other ways to
get food and toiletries and stuff," said Martin Kolega, the Air Force
Office of Special Investigations Detachment 501 interpreter. "Plus I
saw a lot of the airmen buying tapestries, which really helps them
out."
The donation was the largest taken to the center by the Air Force, since
it began sponsoring the center.
After arriving, troops unloaded the goods from the bus into a storage room
through a back window of the complex, then crowded into a small recreation
room to watch a performance put on by the center's younger children.
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Although the language barrier kept the audience from singing along, it
didn't take them long to recognize such childhood classics as "Little
Red Riding Hood" and "If You're Happy and You Know It."
Airmen joined the Bosnian children during their rendition of the song by
clapping, stomping and screaming during the appropriate parts of the song.
Chaplain (Maj.) David Voelker said the visits benefit the airmen because
they give them something (good) to focus on and a place to do
"hands-on" good.
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 "We can easily get lost in the big picture of what has to be done and
become so overwhelmed by the enormity of need that we throw our hands up
in the air out of despair or exasperation and say 'What's the use?' "
Said the chaplain. "While we can't do everything, we can do
something, even if it's only a scratch at the surface. Plus, one can only
hope that our contribution is perceived as an expression of American
generosity and good will that may inspire any one of those at Simin Han to
respond in like manner someday to someone else who is in trouble."
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