Blair's Life: Kyrgyzstan Week 1

Sunday 1 April 2012

Kyrgyzstan Week 1

Well I finally had a chance to sit down and write this entry. I arrived in Bishkek 3 AM on Sunday morning (March 25^th) and have not stopped since I got here. For those unfamiliar with Central Asia, Kyrgyzstan is about the size of Massachusetts with a population of between 5 and 6 million people. A little over one million are in Bishkek which is the capital city. I’ll be living in Tokmok which is around 60 KM from Bishkek, about the same distance from Halifax to Truro. My friend Sergey Bajenov and his kids met me at the airport and brought me home to Tokmok where I have been incredibly blessed with another nice apartment – aside from the typical poorly designed and aging Soviet plumbing and heating systems. After getting to the apartment for about 4 hours sleep and a shower it was off to the club for weekly meeting.

I have been tagging along with Sergey and helping out wherever I can. He and Anya are very busy people with their work here as well as with their 2 boys, Vladik and Artur, and their 4 adopted children Eye-ziz, Koomunshai, Allenbek and Aisaloo. (I have no idea how to spell their names but this is how they sound.) The kids are on break from school this week which is the same as March Break in Canada. Sergey and Anya’s kids are an amazing and well rounded bunch of kids and the nicest I have met anywhere.

Since I got here we have made the rounds to the Bazaar for shopping, stopped in on the mother of a friend in Ukraine to deliver a parcel from him. We sorted, packed and delivered donations to the baby hospital and Red River Orphanage, visited Orlovka Orphanage where an actor friend of Anya’s put on a workshop for International Theatre Day and we stopped in to see Ascel who I met in 2007 on my first trip here.

Ascel and her husband Talent now run a group home called Dayspring which is a (very successful) pilot project for an alternative to orphanages in Kyrgyzstan. They can accommodate up to 10 children giving them a family environment to grow up in. It’s kind of like a large foster home. Currently a little girl living there is waiting for heart surgery which is being sponsored through our programme Operations CAN be Done. (More on that in the future.)

It is so nice being here renewing old friendships and making new friends. It’s also nice driving everywhere with the views of the most spectacular mountains anywhere (and yes I have driven through the Rockies – as nice as they are they just don’t compare for beauty). I don’t know what it is but seeing those mountains is very comforting. I am going to try and make every minute count for the next 3 months until I return to Ukraine.

So stay tuned for my updates. I don’t know how frequent they will be as there are periodic internet “issues” with blog sites not working and a team is arriving soon from Canada when the busyness will increase.

Thank you for your kind thoughts, your support and for seeing my heart. Till next time…Я люблю тебя!