LN1 Gorgonia Cueto

ehash Job description: Command paralegal at Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti.

ehash Personal: 45-year-old reservist, mother of two, volunteer organizer on base for Caritas Street Children Program, sings in the Catholic choir.

ehash Not long after arriving at a Horn of Africa base in 2013, Cueto took on an important mission off base: mentoring at-risk children at a shelter every week.

ehash The kids, 16 and under, come to the Caritas Djibouti refuge for daytime shelter and food every day. Once a week, Cueto began leading volunteers from the base over to play with the kids and teach them English.

ehash The children live on the street. Many are orphans or refugees who do not get enough to eat. They have little education. Many lack clean clothes — even shoes.

ehash “They’re so appreciative of anything. You give them two pieces of candy, and it’s like the best thing in the world,” Cueto told Navy Times in a phone call from Camp Lemonnier, where she is on two-year unaccompanied orders. “You really touch their hearts.”

ehash Cueto is a mobilized reservist who has a 12-year-old daughter and 24-year-old son back home. Her passion for her adopted kids at the shelter has galvanized the base.

ehash When she started with the program in August 2013, she would typically arrive at the center for the Saturday visits with four volunteers. Now she has 25 each week — a cap she sets so as not to overwhelm the shelter. More than 100 volunteers regularly give their time.

ehash The growth in the number and enthusiasm of volunteers is “a result of her personal initiative and outreach,” wrote Lt. Courtney Gordon-Tennant, Cueto’s former department head, who nominated her for the Navy Times Sailor of the Year award. “She is a true ambassador.”

ehash Volunteers watch movies with the children or read to them. They teach kids to read, count and paint. Many of the teenagers have what in the U.S. would be a grade-school level education, Cueto said.

ehash “I will never forget the times I spent at Caritas, and the children will forever stay with me,” Cueto said in an email. “Knowing that I’ve made a small difference in their lives is a reward enough for me.”

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