Flowers from Kuwait via long distance call to NMI

The husbands of Tanya Mesa and Rita Chargualaf may have been thousands of miles away in Kuwait but this did not prevent them from showing their deepest affections to their loved ones back home, especially on Valentine’s Day.

It just took a long distance call for Sgt. Peter Mesa to order a bunch of flower from one of the local shops here on Saipan for delivery to his wife, Tanya, on the first hour of Feb. 14.

“He also called to greet me Happy Valentine’s Day. He was here last January for rest and recreation,” Tanya said.

Staff Sgt. Noel Chargualaf also called his wife Rita to express his love and, just like many members of the Echo Company, he also ordered flowers from a local shop on Saipan for her.

“He also gave our daughter not only flowers but also chocolates,” Rita said.

Their 13-year-old daughter Rinel was with friends when somebody handed her the flowers and chocolates and she found out it came from her dad.

“It was so wonderful. He also called to say how much he misses us and told us to continue to pray for their safety in Kuwait,” said Rita, who is the leader of the Family Readiness Group on Saipan for the Echo Company.

Mesa and Chargualaf are just two of the wives of around 80 U.S. military servicemen who are stationed with the Echo Company in the Middle East.

A total of 156 family members of active military servicemen participated in the first family fun day organized by the American Red Cross NMI Chapter at the Pacific Islands Club last Saturday. The group included some six servicemen who arrived on Feb. 13 for rest and recreation, including one of the team leaders, Thomas Blas.

“We are very grateful to Red Cross for doing this for us,” Tanya Mesa said.

Kennedy Benjamin, Red Cross NMI Health and Safety Coordinator, said this was a way of showing appreciation to the military and their family members.

One of FRG’s campaign is the Red T-shirt Friday.

“These shirts are for sale and we will wear them on Fridays. The proceeds will go to the American Red Cross to be turned over to the service members only,” Benjamin explained.

Written on the shirst is “United We Stand, Support Our Troops.”

The first family fun day activity was part of the $20,000 grant from the U.S. Secretary of Department of Defense.

“This kind of grant is a way to give the family members of military servicemen who don’t have the opportunity to avail of services like commissary or medical facilities,” Benjamin said.