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January 07, 2006
January 07, 2006
Kyrgyz elderly used to receive adequate pensions, but since independence brought about by the Soviet collapse the state can no longer provide enough to cover enough for even basic subsistence.
January 07, 2006
Nina Rusanova, pensioners' health worker and coordinator of the 'Ivanovka' pensioners' self-help group, sorts through second-hand clothing in the store rooms of her small health and welfare organisation. This NGO is a member of the network AgeNet established through Christian Aid funding by Resource Centre for the Elderly.
January 07, 2006
The dilapidated house of Lapina Valentina in Ivanovka village. Lapina and her husband left the village in 1995 to look for work. Her parents were still living in the house. But upon her return in 2000, she found her parents had died and the house had been ransacked. She and her husband Nikolai now live in desperate poverty and are unable to fix the house or even buy simple things like bread and milk.
January 07, 2006
Nikolai Valentinov, 70 was in World War 2 and was employed on the Chernobyl clean-up operation. He now lives here with his wife Lapina. Due to severe cataracts he is virtually blind and is unable to claim the meagre pension (US$7 a month) to which he is entitled as his documents were stolen. Due to various factors and inability of the state to intervene, they live in a situation of downward spiralling poverty.
January 07, 2006
Clothes belonging to Lapina Valentina and her husband in their dilapidated house in Ivanovka village. They left the village in 1995 to look for work. Her parents were still living in the house. But upon her return in 2000, she found her parents had died and the house had been ransacked. She and her husband Nikolai now live in desperate poverty and are unable to fix or furnish the house, or even buy simple things like bread and milk.
January 07, 2006
Nikolai Valentinov, 70 was in World War 2 and was employed on the Chernobyl clean-up operation. He now lives here with his wife Lapina. Due to severe cataracts he is virtually blind and is unable to claim the meagre pension (US$7 a month) to which he is entitled as his documents were stolen. Due to various factors and inability of the state to intervene, they live in a situation of downward spiralling poverty.
January 07, 2006
The dinner table of Lapina Valentina and her husband Nikolai . They left the village in 1995 to look for work. Her parents were still in the house. But upon her return in 2000, she found her parents had died and the house had been ransacked. She and her husband Nikolai now live in desperate poverty and are unable to fix or furnish the house, or even buy simple things like bread and milk.
January 07, 2006
Lapina Valentina, 56 outside her dilapidated house in Ivanovka village. Lapina and her husband left the village in 1995 to look for work. Her parents were still living in the house. But upon her return in 2000, she found her parents had died and the house had been ransacked. She and her husband Nikolai now live in desperate poverty and are unable to fix the house or even buy simple things like bread and milk.
January 07, 2006
Lapina Valentina, 56 outside her dilapidated house in Ivanovka village. Lapina and her husband left the village in 1995 to look for work. Her parents were still living in the house. But upon her return in 2000, she found her parents had died and the house had been ransacked. She and her husband Nikolai now live in desperate poverty and are unable to fix the house or even buy simple things like bread and milk.
January 07, 2006
'Jenyu' Jumrbubu Tugumbaeva, 54 worked in a Soviet stationary factory for 19 years. After the Soviet collapse, the factory could no longer sustainably operate and she lost her job. Since, she has struggled to survive on an insufficient pension of US$12 per month. By joining the Ivanovka self-help group she is able to supplement her income by making traditional felt and fur handicrafts with other unemployed women of the village - a thing, she says, that has spiritual as well as material benefits.
January 07, 2006
Pensioners in Kyrgyzstan used to get pensions equal to the average income during Soviet times. Since the Soviet collapse and transition to independence, the Kyrgyz state has failed to continue to sufficiently support pensioners. This woman joined a self-help group supported by Resource Centre for the Elderly in conjunction with the Ministry for Labour and Social Welfare to help supplement her pension by making traditional handicrafts.
January 07, 2006
Pensioners in Kyrgyzstan used to get pensions equal to the average income during Soviet times. Since the Soviet collapse and transition to independence, the Kyrgyz state has failed to continue to sufficiently support pensioners. This woman joined a self-help group supported by Resource Centre for the Elderly in conjunction with the Ministry for Labour and Social Welfare to help supplement her pension by making traditional handicrafts.
January 07, 2006
Pensioners in Kyrgyzstan used to get pensions equal to the average income during Soviet times. Since the Soviet collapse and transition to independence, the Kyrgyz state has failed to continue to sufficiently support pensioners. This woman joined a self-help group supported by Resource Centre for the Elderly in conjunction with the Ministry for Labour and Social Welfare to help supplement her pension by making traditional handicrafts.
January 07, 2006
Since her husband died 6 yrs ago, Zena Sultanalieva, 65 has struggled to live on as little as US$13 a month, barely enough to buy basic necessities such as tea, sugar and milk. She supplements her income through a pensioners' self-help group which provides moral and material benefits where the state fails to.
January 07, 2006
"I like jeeps..." A 5 yr old boy who attends the village kindergarten sponsored by the Dun-Aryk self-help group for pensioners with the profits they have made from selling quality traditional handicrafts.
The air January 10, 2006
From the air. Here you can see the Zerafshan mountain range just before we began the descent to Dushambe.
Airborne January 10, 2006
Frances, Amanda, and Catherine somewhat relieved to be back on the ground.
January 11, 2006
Rumanov Sadiq is the director of NEKI and he passionately believes that disabled children have rights and that they should integrate with other children - rather than stay at home where they are often neglected. He is the driving force behind the organisation and without him it is clear to us that the centre would not exist - we discover later in the day that this man is taking food and medicine to families in the mountain areas paid for out of his own pocket. Sadiq doesnÕt smile for the photographer - this man is heavily affected by his work and has the world on his shoulders. Look closely at his picture. You are looking at an angel.
January 11, 2006
Rustam, age 10, has cerebral palsy. He loves the centre. He comes to NEKI when his mother is at work but he even wants to come at the weekend when the centre is closed.
January 11, 2006
Rustam, age 10, has cerebral palsy. He is collected from NEKI by his mother, Sonja. Sonja has lost her husband and eldest son, Rustam is all that she has left. The day care that NEKI provides means that she can now go out to work to earn enough to feed them both - although it is still not enough to buy his medicines.
January 11, 2006
Catherine hard at work completing one of the blog entries for this site. One laptop between five means that we're all learning traditional word processing skills again - writing with pen and paper.
Dushanbe, Tajikistan January 11, 2006
Ofiyatkhon Rahmonova, her children Hassan (18, shown right) Husseyn (18, shown left) and Bakhtiyor (20, not pictured) all have muscular dystrophy. They attend the NEKI centre so that they can socialise and learn with other young people and children. Ofiyatkhon has a fourth son aged 8, and it is not yet known whether he will develop the same disease.
Dushanbe, Tajikistan January 11, 2006
Jumabun (21) at his home in Qamchin Village (15 miles from Dushanbe). He has muscular dystrophy. Jumabun likes to listen to music. He used to enjoy going to the NEKI centre and socialising with the other young people. He now finds it too painful to move and can no longer make the 15 mile journey to the centre.
Dushanbe, Tajikistan January 11, 2006
This is Saida Jumagul (17) and Surob (13) they live with their mother and five brothers in the qamchin village 15 miles from Dushanbe. Saida two of her brothers Jumabun (21) and Yusuf John (9) have muscular dystrophy. Surob is bright and her teachers would like her to carry on studying but her mother needs her help at home. The NEKI centre has allowed Saida, Surob and their siblings to play with other children and bring them happiness.
January 16, 2006
Each place has dogs and livestock running across the road causing us to brake regularly.
January 16, 2006
Pretty soon weÕre out of the city and amongst some stunning mountain scenery.
January 16, 2006
Pretty soon weÕre out of the city and amongst some stunning mountain scenery.
January 16, 2006
The mix of stunning scenery and economic collapse continues. We drive past what looks like an old military base. There are bi-planes and an old helicopter, all covered in tumbleweed. Despite this, weÕre amused to see that the place is still guarded. Tajikistan has a conscript army but conscription is easily avoided with the right bribe to the right official. So these poor guards not only have nothing to do, theyÕre from the very poorest Tajik families and have no choice in being there.
January 16, 2006
Amanda is out like a shot filming footage for a video diary she is compiling that shows the nature of the countryÕs collapse.
January 16, 2006
Shodibek also has skills as a shoemaker and his first introduction to Merengez has been by acting as a ÔmasterÕ trainer teaching some courses to other adults. He hopes to follow this by joining a Self Help Group in order to further improve his livelihood. It seems the only foreseeable lifeline at hand for this haunted man.
January 16, 2006
Shodibek Zabirov is interviewed by Frances outside of his house. His brother helped him start to build the house a year ago but it remains unfinished as they have run out of money, leaving the family to live in one small room.
January 16, 2006
Shodibek Zabirov (36) with his wife Ibodat (23), Prior to the civil war, Shodibek worked in a flour factory but then fled as a refugee to southern Tajikistan. Having lost his livelihood, like many others, he now scrapes a living by doing odd jobs: digging land, cleaning in wealthier houses, anything he can get.
January 16, 2006
Ibodat Zabirov (23) by a traditional bread oven - this is outside the house under a wooden roof.
January 16, 2006
Shodibek has done some onion planting but cannot afford more than 4 furrows - a frustration that we see everywhere in this rural district: there is plenty of land but no money for cultivation. When we ask him what it means to be poor he replies with some sadness: ÔIt means that no one feels like helping you - no one respects me for being poor, and no one will helpÉÉ.. itÕs because everyone is struggling for their lifeÕ
January 16, 2006
Abdurahim, 36, he has to work in Russia for 8 - 9 months a year and heÕs been doing that since 1987. He has a wife and four small children and on his last trip was able to send them two payments of between US$100 - US$200.
