We returned yesterday from two days spent visiting communities living in the poorest part of the country; the Sugd region in northern Tajikistan. So far this trip has challenged some of my own pre-conceptions of what poverty looks like. The Soviet-era buildings almost trick you into thinking that Tajikistan could well be a country that is prospering, but speaking with communities who largely work as subsistence farmers has made me realise that poverty doesn't always look the same in different parts of the world.
Tajikistan is now the poorest of the former Soviet Union states and driving through the Sugd region I couldn't help but wonder how little has perhaps changed during the last 20 years. It seems that since the fall of the Soviet Union, Tajikistan has been left to cope on its own without the infrastructure in place to do so and as a result, many people here are living in poverty.
The partner organisation that we visited; ASDP Nau, is working in this remote, and in parts mountainous region, supporting communities to increase their economic income through sustainable development. Satibaldi and his family are one of 60 families in the Oshoba Jamoat that have been supported by ASDP Nau as part of a solar drying project. Like many people in Tajikistan, Satibaldi had a good job during the Soviet era, working as a mechanical engineer. When the Soviet Union collapsed, he, like so many others, lost his job and realised that instead he would have to cultivate the land around him in order to gain an income and support his family.
ASDP Nau have supplied Satibaldi and his family with a solar drier, enabling him to dry apricots, cranberries and other fruits. Not only does it mean that he can get more money for his fruits at market (the drying process is much quicker using a solar drier and therefore the quality of the fruits much better), but it also means that for farmers growing fruits like tomatoes that don't sell at market, they can now be dried and sold, saving them from being wasted and increasing a family's income. With the extra income that Satibaldi's family have received, they have been able to buy a cow, which produces 10 litres of milk a day for the family. In time he hopes that the increase in his income from the project will enable him to provide a good education for all of his children.
Speaking to Tajiks here, there is little doubt that the fall of the Soviet Union has had a huge impact on people's lives. Before people had employment, education and healthcare all provided for them. After its collapse, the support fell away and now Tajiks are struggling to find employment, pay for education and healthcare and access their legal rights. Unemployment has caused high numbers of men to migrate to Russia in search of work and it seems that Tajikistan would struggle to function without the remittances sent back to the country from Tajiks working abroad.
Communities here are trying to do the best that they can to provide for themselves and their families, supported by organisations like Christian Aid. Given its poverty and the struggles that people here face, I wonder why then it feels like a country that has been all but forgotten about...
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