New Horizons Airmen spend day at Panamanian school

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Eric Petosky
  • New Horizons Panama 2010 Public Affairs
METETI, Panama (AFNS) --  More than a dozen Airmen and Marines from Task Force New Horizons spent a day with local children building rubber-band airplanes and playing games July 12 at the elementary school in Sansonsito, Panama.

The servicemembers were a welcome addition to the day, said Lisbeth Acosta Corella, the school's director.

"When the children found out the (U.S. servicemembers) were coming, they were very excited," she said through an interpreter. "Today, they are ecstatic, all are very happy (the servicemembers) came."

The school invited parents and visitors to the school in preparation for a Panamanian national "Children's Holiday" July 18, Mrs. Corella explained. While school children played games and constructed the rubber-band planes, parents and teachers sold food to raise funds for activities during the upcoming holiday.

"I like model airplanes," said 7-year-old Javier Brago, a student at Sansonsito. "I've never had one before, so I think I'm going to keep it."

Javier's enthusiasm was shared by Pfc. Juan Romero, a civil affairs Marine deployed from the 4th Civil Affairs Group in Washington, D.C, and Tech. Sgt. Dorothy Lanthier, a personnel specialist deployed from 177th Fighter Wing in Atlantic City, N.J.

"The children seemed to like working with us to put the planes together," Sergeant Lanthier said, "and just to see their faces when they launched the planes made my day. It makes it so much easier to be away from my family to see that we're really making a difference here."

Private Romero and the civil affairs Marines from the 4th CAG made the visit possible. As civil affairs specialists, the CAG Marines are the liaisons between the U.S. military and the local population.

"Our mission in Panama is to interact with the local population, maximize the humanitarian impact of New Horizon Panama 2010," Private Romero said. "We visit the job sites and other schools in the area to assess different ways we can make a positive impact. These quick impact projects include things like setting up Internet access, donations and activities where U.S. servicemembers interact with local children.

Today's visit is just one of many -- designed not only educate local citizens about the New Horizons mission, but to forge relationships that go 'beyond the uniform," Private Romero said.

New Horizons Panama 2010 is a U.S. Southern Command-sponsored humanitarian assistance exercise designed to provide medical care and quality-of-life improvement projects for the people of Panama. Four schools and two medical clinics will be renovated by a force of Air Force and Army engineers. Additionally, five medical teams will deploy for two-week rotations in the towns of Chitre, Veraguas, and David to provide care in the fields of ophthalmology, ear, nose and throat surgery and dentistry.