Ramstein volunteers assist in humanitarian initiatives Published Aug. 23, 2010 By Airman 1st Class Ciara M. Travis 86th Airlift Wing Public Affairs RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany -- Twelve Airmen representing the Kaiserslautern Military Community volunteered July 19 through 28, packing, loading and shipping 13,000 books to Rwanda. The Airmen worked to support and assist with an effort to supply teachers and students with books upon Rwanda's switch of their official language from French to English. The initiative started after retired Army Lt. Col. Thomas Martin discovered the library on Sembach Air Base, Germany, would be closing with the downsizing of bases in the country. With the help of the German Ausbildunghilfe Ruanda foundation, Colonel Martin located a Catholic university in need of the books. The next piece for him was to come up with volunteers and funding to ship 20 tons of books to Rwanda. "The state of Rheinland-Pfalz agreed to pay the 10,000 Euro transportation costs for the books," he said. This left the task of packing, loading and shipping $154,000 worth of books. For this procedure, Colonel Martin contacted Travis Schaben, Air Force Library Kaiserslautern reference librarian. Mr. Schaben sent out a message to several units to ask for help. "Suddenly, my e-mail box was full of messages from potential volunteers," the retired colonel said. "We ended up with 12 Air Force volunteers who helped out with the heavy work when needed." Even though the job was heavy work and required much dedication, the small group of volunteers saw the need and committed themselves to the project until the end. Each volunteer brought a different skill set to the job, all working to complete the puzzle of making sure the people of Rwanda would have a new library to help further their education. "I knew that this would make a big impact in Rwanda even though we wouldn't get to see the difference first hand," said Tech Sgt. Francisco Rolon, 86th Maintenance Operations Squadron maintenance analyst. Sergeant Rolon was just one of the 12 dedicated volunteers who gave time to the Rwanda project. "Volunteering for events like this allows you to get out and do something for others," Sergeant Rolon said. "That is a reward within itself. It was also very rewarding to see Colonel Martin's appreciation for the work that we did." After 375 meters of foam wrap, 45 rolls of packing tape, 400 cardboard boxes and 800 meters of shrink wrap, the finished project weighed nearly 22 U.S. tons. This would not have been possible if it weren't for the Air Force volunteers. "If it weren't for the help of the 12 Air Force volunteers, the project would not have been completed on schedule," Colonel Martin said. "They all did such an excellent job." The retired colonel's thanks go to: - 86th Maintenance Operations Squadron: Sergeant Rolon; Airmen 1st Class Ebony Johnson and William Sumner - 450th Intelligence Squadron: Tech. Sgt. Patrick Williams - 721st Aerial Port Squadron: Tech. Sgt. Kip Hanner; Staff Sgts. Andrew Walker, Mark Tomeskog and Nickolas Jordan - 86th Munitions Squadron: Staff Sgt. Donnie Sosh; Airmen 1st Class Troy Kiel and Zachary Fike - 435th Construction and Training Squadron: Staff Sgt. Samuel Colekraty