The following work was published here courtesy of photographer Thorsten Pohlmann.
Navy chaplain Lesa Welliver (middle), Elmars Plavins (right) and the leader of the NGO (center) said a prayer for the people. Photo by Thorsten Chr. Pohlmann
OGRE, Latvia — Last Friday, twenty-three sailors from the Guided Missile Destroyer USS Ramage were present on two locations in Ogre, to assist soldiers from the 1st Infantry Battalion of the Latvian National Armed Forces to renovate two homes for latvian families in need.
“In America,” emphasized Lesa Welliver, Navy chaplain on board of the USS Ramage, “we are very proud of helping our neighbors in our neighborhood. Now we are visiting Latvia, we would like to extend this neighborhood help to our Latvian neighbors.” At one of the locations, sailors and soldiers painted the exterior walls of a wooden building that provides shelter to a 24 year old brain handicapped person who is in care of the Latvian NGO “Hope for the Families.” A NGO that provides free meals, social assistance and shelter to 64 elderly and more then 180 minors, many of them with social problems and an history of drug and alcohol abuses.
“Unfortunately, Latvia is in a deep recession which puts strong burdens on individuals. Many of them were simply not fortunate. “As I heard that Lesa Welliver was looking for opportunities to help people in need, my first thought went to Hope for the Families,” chaplain Elmars Plavins of the Latvian Army said.
“It is pity that we had so less time out here” said one of the sailors who helped cleaning and renovating a house at a second location, “with a few more hours we would have been able to do even more, but many of us have to be back on the ship for duty.”
Before returning to Riga, Navy chaplain Lesa Welliver, Elmars Plavins and Mudite Mardoka of the NGO said a prayer for the people. The USS Ramage left Latvia sunday. The Guided MIssile Destroyer visit Latvia after a joined training mission with the British Navy.
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