Tales from Tajikistan @sezad - Tumblr Blog

8 months in Tajikistan

So now I’m writing this in the airport in Istanbul after leaving Tajikistan, soon to be home in London. How can I summarise the last 8 months? I just can’t find the words to explain really, although hopefully this blog has given some idea. There have been so many experiences, adventures, challenges, achievements and some amazing people, volunteers and families. I have loved being a supervisor and really think it has been the best job I have done so far and one I am going to miss very much. I have enjoyed supporting the volunteers and working within communities, adapting and changing the way I work, and surprising myself with how I have overcome challenges. I have been constantly reminded of why the ICS programme is so beneficial for young people and how this experience will change their lives and will be something that will always be an important part of who they are. Hearing about what these young people go on to do will be a real joy for me, and knowing that the programme will have had some part to play in that is really great. Leaving Tajikistan was very hard and I think it will really hit me when I’m back at home in my ‘normal’ life. There is so much I love about Tajikistan and Tajik people; it’s so familiar to me now that being in Tajikistan felt like my life. I know I am going to come back, it’s too much of an important place to me and there are some very special people I will definitely want to see again. Insholloh next year I’ll be on Tajik soil again, back in my second home. I know I have said this a lot in this blog but I genuinely feel very lucky and blessed to have had the last 8 months in Tajikistan, and it wouldn’t have been possible without a lot of people. This includes people at VSO that made this all possible, all the staff at VSO Tajikistan, in particular John & Habib, my wonderful counterparts Ganjina and Umed and all of the fantastic UK and Tajik volunteers. But also my family and friends, for supporting me and encouraging me to make to most of this opportunity away from home. So I guess this is the end of my blog about Tajikistan. I have really enjoying writing it, it has given me a chance to reflect and stop and think about what I have been doing. I hope it has given anyone who read bits of it a glimpse into what Tajikistan is like and what being a supervisor is all about, as well as how important young volunteers are. Please, tell everyone you know about Tajikistan and if you can, go and visit! I have no doubt you will fall in love with Tajikistan just as much as I have. Also if you are 18 - 25 or know someone who is, get applying to ICS! www.vso.org.uk Tashakur (thank you) Tajikistan for the most amazing 8 months!

Habib's wonderful home and family

Zerafshan Community Project, thanks to Lola for inviting me

Highlights of the Zerafshan Valley

Holiday at the end

Once the programme has finished I had some holiday time before heading back to the UK, and wanted to see a bit more of the country and go visit some of my friends and previous volunteers. After the UK volunteers finished, Umed took me to visit a Holy Muslim place called 44 springs in the South of Tajikistan where legend has it that the prophet Mohammed was in the area and there was no water, nothing to drink. So he asked for water and each step he took resulted in a spring of water coming out of the ground. As a result there are 44 natural springs and a stream and you can swim in the water (obviously I did) and it was a very calm a relaxing place. Women had a separate area so I went alone and had some hilarious broken conversations with them about where I was from, whilst trying to get the ladies to swim with me. Umed said he could hear our laughter over the males/female fence! We also visited a very old Mosque/Madrassa which had been renovated and was very beautiful. After exploring some more of QT and surprise secret trip, I headed back to Dushanbe which included staying with John the country director in Tajikistan and Tolib who used to work for VSO, then to Khujand to see Ganjina (my previous counterpart) and local volunteers from there, then did a tour of some remote areas in the Zerafshan villages. Zerafshan in an area in the Fann Mountains, in between Khujand and Dushanbe and this valley has two sides, the side I visited is less travelled. This was a great trip, staying in homestays in small villages in the mountains, learning what life is like for people there. I visited one area called the Yagnob valley where a unique group of Tajik people are from and they speak a language only spoken in this part of the valley – nowhere else in the world speaks this language. In these villages I was invited to tea, told life stories and invited to take photos of their houses and bread making. I got to experience a much tougher side to Tajikistan, and in fact the reality for most Tajiks, living in very remote areas where the roads are cut off by snow for half of the year and there is no running water and only electricity for 4 – 6 hours a day in the winter. I heard about how children stop school aged 11 to start helping in the fields or with the animals and how limited opportunities were. The villages were noticeably absent of young men, as this was because many were in Russia, working to send money home. I saw women doing traditional male roles, labouring hard and scratching a living. It was very humbling and made me think about how I was amazed and in awe of the beautiful landscape, but does that really mean much to you when you are struggling to survive? On the way back I met an NGO who were doing contemporary art projects in rural communities, bringing Tajik artists to run sessions with children, sculpture, painting, drawing in order to develop their expression and creativity. In a tiny village it was an amazing thing to witness, the children were having a great time creating and learning in a way they had never done so before. The few days I spent in this valley gave me some head space to think about heading home, I did some hiking, and got away from my phone and the outside world for a bit. After this I headed down to Habib’s (ICS programme manager and my counterpart in 2013 and very good friend) family home in the rural south of Tajikistan, by the border with Afghanistan. I had wanted to visit his family for a long time, and this weekend was second Eid, Eid Kurbon, so was a perfect time to go. 5 hours from Dushanbe and we arrived and I finally met Habib’s wife and 2 children, plus his 3 sisters, mother, father ,one of his brothers, 3 sister in laws and 6 nieces and nephews, not to mention the neighbours! His family made me feel so welcome and before I knew it, I was wearing a headscarf and joking with the women in the family. Only Habib speaks English in the family, and there were quite a lot of times when it was just me and the rest of the women, so we developed communication through sign language, my broken Tajik, pointing at things, using photos and generally laughing a lot. I laughed so much and by the end of the weekend I was their English Apa (sister) and they were my Tajik Apais (sisters). It was so interesting for me to observe the roles within this very traditional family, the roles of the women in particular, the wives of the sons who are in Russia, but live with the parents in law. All the women pitch in and help with cooking, cleaning, preparing, with the children and it all works in a very fluid system. Everyone knows their role and knows exactly what to do when a certain person walks in the room, and pre-empts the movements of other people. Eid Kurbon was great, I got to have some traditional food and visit some other houses as well. Kurbon translated to ‘sacrifice’ so this Eid is really all about meat, meat and more meat, so unsurprisingly I got sick and had to stay an extra day longer, which I was pretty ok with because I felt so at home with the family (apart from the severe toilet dashing). I got to see some moments of happiness and some sadness and experience some real Tajik traditions, and was a perfect way to end my time in Tajikistan – with an incredible Tajik family. Before I left, Habib’s mother gave me a beautiful Tajik dress made from traditional Tajik material that was over 40 years old, passed on from her mother. She made me the dress and it fitted perfectly and I was so touched by this gift, such a kind thing to do. When I did leave I did so with a very heavy heart, tears in my eyes and feeling so lucky to have had a wonderful last few days.

End of the QT programme

The end of the ICS programmes always comes round very fast, and this programme was no exception, it kinda creeps up on you and the volunteers! The end is always very much a mixture of emotions for the volunteers, often lots of fun times and quite a few tears when saying goodbye to each other. Out Community Farewell party was very special, when we invite all members of the community involved in the project to come and celebrate the end of the programme, partner organisations, host homes, families of local volunteers all came and there was dancing (of course), speeches, and eating osh! The volunteers and Sworde Teppa staff lit the garden up with light bulbs and candles and everyone sat and danced outside and we shared our favourite memories, and tried not to cry too much! Was a lovely evening and I was so glad so many people came. The next day I took the UK volunteers to Dushanbe when they got their flight home, officially marking the end of the programme. The programme in QT has been very different to the other 2 programmes I have worked on, more community based, more established within a local organisation and a greater cultural exchange experience. There have been some challenges on the programme with all of those elements, and unfortunately 4 volunteers left the programme by the end for various different reasons. But overall I feel the programme was a great success, and this was down to the amazing group of young people working on it. The volunteers were a strong team, worked well together and formed a unique bond and I will have some fantastic memories of them! For me this also marks the end of my time as a Supervisor and of being in Tajikistan, which I have always known was coming, but doesn’t make it any easier! QT was tough at the beginning for me, but by the end was an amazing programme, the experiences I have had and the people I have been lucky enough to meet will stay with me for a long time. There are far too many to possibly fit into this blog, but the warmth and kindness of the people in QT and how I was able to feel part of the community will always be a part of me. The local volunteers are some of the most genuine, humble, fun and inspiring young people I have ever met, and I will miss their warm greetings every morning and their calls of ‘Apa Sara!’ I have learnt a lot about myself here in QT, I have learnt to let go more (!) and that I can form strong bonds with people from a completely different country, culture from me – and for these people to become some of the most important people in my life. QT will always have a very special place in my heart and I know I will come back.

Debrief Weekend! At the end of the ICS programme we have debrief training weekend to review the whole programme, look at what the volunteers have learnt, what they have achieved as a team and as individuals and how they are going to use it in their future. It’s probably my favourite time with the group because it is their last time together and everyone puts in a lot of effort. The volunteers organise it, but we had some difficulties with venue requirements and budget so Umed and I found the venue. And what a venue! We went to the largest reservoir in Tajikistan that provides 80% of electricity to the country, and is a huge vast area of water surrounded by mountains. The venue was pretty special, we had to get a boat to get there and the volunteers were so excited when we revealed the surprise...just as we were about to get on the boat!’ The sessions were planned and delivered really well by the volunteers and they organised some great social activities, including a prom with awards, dance off and a photo booth, counterpart Olympics (Umed & I won, and were renamed ‘Sumed’) and games evening. In free time we went swimming, relaxed and enjoyed the scenery. Every morning I got up at 6am and swam in the cold water and I just loved it, you couldn’t get me out of the water! The photos probably explain the weekend better, but it was a very special weekend and got the volunteers prepared for the end of the programme.

Food and Treats from QT

What did the team achieve?

The last 4 weeks of the programme was very hectic, with the Dushanbe Tourism festival, some local volunteers going back to University so only volunteering half days, project work being finished off, last Community Action Day being planned, supervisions, debrief planning and a fun visit from the Dushanbe team to swim in the river. Also a UK volunteer had to leave the team early for medical reasons which was very sad. Overall the projects were very successful; some exceeded their objectives set at the beginning of the project and some went in a different direction, but all partner organisations where very pleased with the work the volunteers had done, many saying they wished VSO in Tajikistan was not closing down. Here is a summary of what the volunteers achieved; - First ever tourism map designed and created from scratch, printed and on a billboard to be displayed in the city. A tourism leaflet was researched with the local community, and again desgined and created for future use. - Sworde Teppa has a new online library catalogue for the whole community to use, a new website with more information on and new clubs running such as film and discussion club. - The two local museums have had promotional work translated and 2 leaflets created to encourage more tourists to visit, ready to be distributed. - Sworde Teppa has new Ecology Education materials and lessons about compost, recycling and keeping places tidy, ready for the new school year, including a children’s book on looking after your environment. The volunteers write their own report on whether the projects met the overall VSO Tajikistan Programme Plan, and what the challenges were and the unexpected outcomes and I think this really helps them to consider what they have achieved, but also how difficult it is complete everything set out in a project plan. On the ground things can go very differently, as many volunteers discovered! Working on a final report also gievs volunteers the opportunity to see how community projects are planned, desgined, and then monitored and evaluated - a very useful skill in the international development world. This programme was the first and last in QT so was quite tricky to achieve everything in 12 weeks, but the volunteers worked hard on making what they did do, sustainable by training other volunteers on how to use computer or website programmes, leaving all design materials to the community members and having templates ready to use again. The Sworde Teppa Centre gained from having all the English speakers around and were able to offer ideas and hopefully encourage more new students to come to the centre. I really hope some of these projects do continue, and they have been handed back to Sworde Teppa now, so we will see what happens in the future. In addition all the connections and impacts they had on their community action days means the volunteers should hold their heads up high with what they achieved!

Last Community Action Day in QT!

Community Action Days

Throughout the 12 week programme the volunteers organise Community Action Days, 4 in total and volunteers are split into 4 groups to organise these. The focus of these days are to organise an event within the community, that the community needs, not forcing events or ideas on the community. This is quite hard to do as it involves doing some research, asking questions and forming relationships with organisations and working with community members. The volunteers do this alongside their project work, learning days and other committee groups and the lead up to each community action day is usually quite fraught and everyone mucks in to help. The events have all been firmly placed within the community and had another thing in common...lunch was always a huge bowl of traditional Tajik dish, osh!! A community action day in QT is not complete without osh, even if it did cause us some serious headaches. In QT we had some great community action days. The first was in one of the local volunteers’ village just outside of QT where they organised a day in the small school to offer computer and English lessons to inspire children and adults to study, and to promote the Sworde Teppa English Education Centre as a place to do this. The whole village turned out, around 150 people and it was a great day, with games and activities...including the famous ICS energizers. The second day was linked to International Youth Day when the volunteers organised a Youth Fair in QT to promote volunteer and job opportunities with stalls from local organisations and businesses and they organised workshops on CV writing, working for the UN and the benefits of volunteering. Around 170 young people came, which was a huge success. The third day was supporting a local orphanage where one of our local volunteers grew up, so the volunteers organised a day to raise awareness of the orphanage within the local community, children from the orphanage came and did performances, and the volunteers organised a donation box for clothes, toys and gifts. This was quite an important community action day for the local volunteer for obvious reasons, and he is going to try and establish the donation box as a sustainable project and will hopefully carry on. The final community action day was probably the most memorable and had the biggest impact. One of the local volunteers knew of a disabled centre in QT that he thought it would be good to speak to, and in his team was a UK volunteer who is a trained Physiotherapist and has worked with people with disabilities before. So the team, led by these 2 volunteers, organised an event for people and children disabilities to come and find out information about support available in the local community from other organisations, speeches on opportunities, performances from people with disabilities and free cosmetic and make up workshops. We all had lunch together, danced together and 130 people with disabilities and their carers came to the event. What made this event so impressive was how inclusive it was, everything was by people with disabilities for people with disabilities, showing ability rather than disability. Speaking to the people and their families about their difficulties and struggles was very humbling and the volunteers and I learnt a lot about how tough life can be for families. It was an emotional day, moments that I’ll never forget; a deaf child dancing to the rhythm of a drum, the smile of a young girl in a wheelchair when the volunteers made bubbles for her, a man with only one leg throwing down his crutches to dance with us, a disabled man making a tree out of two pieces of newspaper and giving it to me and at the end of the event the disabled mullah doing a prayer for everyone. At the event I spoke to the director of the disabled centre we worked with and he said that an event like this had not happened in 14 years, and that it was better than giving just aid, that people had a chance to socialise out of their homes where most disabled people are restricted to, that they were more aware of support available and generally felt included in society. I can’t tell you the amount of times I put my hand on my heart and felt overwhelmed by the overall day, the work of the volunteers and the kind words from the guests. Made me feel so very proud of the volunteers and happy that VSO can fund these type of events, even if they are small. The event had quite a big impact on the volunteers too, especially the local volunteers who had not seen these kind of disabilities before, many of them were close to tears. It was such a wonderful day, and a great example of what Community Action Days are all about.

My wonderful counterparts!

Counterparts

A unique element of this ICS programme is the counterpart relationship. All volunteers are matched up with another volunteer in the team from a different nationality and become counterpart pairs. In Tajikistan these counterpart pairs work together in their project groups and also are paired together for games and activities during training. The idea behind this is to work closely with someone from a different culture, to learn from each other, to develop a strong friendship and to really understand what life is like for a young person in a different country. Supervisors decide on these pairs at the beginning of the programme and hope that they will work out well. We try and match on English level, interests and general confidence, so if someone is shy perhaps a more confident person will help them during the programme. In all 3 programmes I have worked on the counterpart relationships have been one of the most important learning tools for the volunteers, and more often than not strong friendships have been formed. In my first team even a couple was formed with UK volunteer and Afghan refugee volunteer, and I’m pleased to say a year later it is still going strong! Counterpart pairs often spend time together outside of work, and with this current team this has meant meeting local volunteer’s extended families and visiting their homes. But this relationship can also be tough, working so closely with someone that has very different attitudes, beliefs and education experience to you, combined with language barriers and cultural misunderstandings, it can be a tricky one to manage! Volunteers learn how to work with each other and gain so much from the relationship, whether it’s developing English skills, learning about their culture, gaining confidence or understanding that young people essentially the same from all over the world.

On the programme I also have a counterpart, a supervisor counterpart who is a local Tajik staff member. The local staff are selected by VSO Tajikistan and is another very important relationship. The project could not run without 2 supervisors, especially without a local supervisor. The local supervisor obviously knows the language, but so much more than that; they know the community, the local area, the culture, who to speak to to get things sorted, how best to work with the local volunteers and how the project can help the local people. I have been lucky enough to have 3 amazing counterparts, first Habib in Dushanbe who taught me all about the ICS programme and introduced me to Tajikistan life and culture last year. Next was Ganjina, my counterpart in Khujand who was like no-one else I had ever met before, showed me what life is like for a young woman in Tajikistan and became one of my dearest friends. Here in Qurghonteppa I have crazy Umed, who has given me an insight into real Tajik family life, treats me so kindly and makes me laugh and smile until my cheeks hurt. With all 3 counterparts I have felt I have been able to really get to know them and their lives, and can spend hours sitting and talking with them. Just this evening I spent almost 2 hours chatting to Umed about life, love and proverbs.

You spend a huge amount of time with your counterpart on this programme, in fact sometimes every day of the week; making decisions together, solving problems and often it is not easy. It has definitely been one of the most challenging work relationships I have ever had, mainly due to working with someone from a completely different background as you, and you often have very different ways of dealing with things. It’s fair to say at the beginning of each programme I have wondered how I am going to get on with this person, and they thinking the same about me. The relationship is a constant balance of negotiating cultures, experience and opinions – whilst always putting the volunteers first. You have to ensure you are not offending or insulting your counterpart without even realising and also have to understand the commitments that have going on in their own lives. There have been times when my counterpart has said something or done something that has made my head want to explode, but you have to work through it together and work hard to understand each other. Explaining a completely opposing opinion using simple English can be frustrating to say the least but I have learnt so much from my counterparts and gained an awful lot in a short period of time, they have been by guides to Tajikistan but also given me perspective on my own life.

What’s really interesting for me is watching, and empathising with, the volunteers as they go through almost identical process as I have with my Tajik counterparts; the initial get to know each other, the struggles of communication and different work styles, then spending quality time together and really getting to know them, a few more hiccups along the way to finally becoming very close with your counterpart and you wonder how you will cope without them. I missed Habib terribly when I left Dushanbe last year, I really notice the absence of Ganjina now (although I still get to speak with her and see her) and with Umed we have spent a huge amount of time together, I know I am going to miss his laughter and his stories. It makes me think about how we form relationships with people, what it takes and making such quality friends with my Tajik counterparts has been such a joy for me, proving to me I can get on with different types of people and am able to understand people from different backgrounds.

These 3 counterpart relationships I know I will remember for a long time, and the memories of our intense time together will always make me smile but the lessons my counterparts have taught me I will never forget.

#tajikistan

Local Tajik Volunteers

My local Tajik volunteers in QT are brilliant; they are fun, welcoming, helpful, hard working and generous young people. I am always laughing and joking with them, and enjoying watching them learn and experience new things. They are quite different to other young people I have worked with in Tajikistan as QT is a little bit more conservative than other areas of the country, so are more traditional and the education facilities in QT are not has high standard as other part of the country, in particular compared to Dushanbe. This has meant English ability is a little lower than previous teams and a bit of a wider gap in education level between UK and Tajik volunteers. I have been lucky enough to be really welcomed by the local volunteers and had amazing experiences such a visiting nearly all of the local volunteer’s houses at least once, meeting their families, sharing a meal and learning more about what life is like for typical Tajik families. I have been invited to all sorts of different celebrations and events including birthdays, memorials, circumcisions, or generally just for food, and this is something that has not happened with me before with previous teams – and I have just loved it! I have listened to these young people’s dreams for their family, community and for themselves and learnt about some of the barriers they face. The local volunteers have other commitments and challenges going on at the same time as taking part in this programme, such as female volunteers having housework and family responsibilities and male volunteers needing to help in their gardens/fields at home or take care of parents. Some volunteers are up at 5am helping in the home before even coming and volunteering, and the same again in the evening. Volunteers often are torn between volunteering and going to help with their family. Staying away for training weekends can be difficult to arrange for the whole team, as some families are not happy for their daughters to stay away from home. Respect for elders and family members is very important here, probably the most important thing in Tajik culture, so when the young volunteers are needed to help with something at home it is their duty to do so. Unfortunately these commitments and demands on these young people have meant two local volunteers have left the programme; One local volunteer left the programme because he felt he needed to get a job in order to support his family and one female local volunteer has left the programme as she will soon be getting married and preparations for this were taking her time and her husband won’t let her volunteer on the programme after the wedding. All of the local volunteers have made this particular team very interesting and eye opening for me; they have so much going on in their lives but they decided to take part in this challenging programme and this dedication and energy to develop themselves for their future is inspiring. One local volunteer in particular has really impressed me, a male 22 year volunteer who lives in a village just outside of QT and is married, and has one young son. He studied at school but has not been to university because he cannot afford to do so. He is from a large family; he has 7 sisters and 35 nieces and nephews! He is the youngest and only son, so as in traditional Tajik families his role is to live with his parents and look after them. He has the responsibility for providing for and caring for his parents, and will do so from now on. As the only son he is the main earner for his family, and to add to this his father has become unwell, unable to work or even walk and requires expensive medical treatment and frequent visits to the capital city to visit a decent hospital. The pressure to earn more money meant in 2013 this volunteer went to Russia to find work, as many young men do here in Tajikistan. Over 1 million men leave Tajikistan every year to find work, 90% go to Russia. Of all the money the country makes through industry and trade (GDP), 50% comes from money sent from Russia to families in Tajikistan. The country relies on young men like him to go to Russia to work and send money home. But he could not stay as his father became unwell, so after 8 months he returned to Tajikistan in order to care for him. His experience of being a migrant was not a good one, and he talks about how badly treated Tajik workers can be there. He saw men who had no place to live and were living on the streets, and told us about men who are cheated when they get to Russia, promised a job but work and don’t get their pay. He worked on construction and said it was very difficult work. The amazing thing is that he is able to take part in the ICS programme, we provide a small living allowance and through doing some work at Sworde Teppa, he has some money to live on and to support his family. Before going to Russia he was able to study English for 2 years at the Sworde Teppa Education Centre, through an access fund which enabled him to study for free. His spoken English is great, much better than students who are studying English at University. He wanted to do this programme to learn new skills, to work with volunteers from the UK and to improve his English skills – and he has already developed so much. He works so hard on his project work and is the volunteer everyone goes to to get something sorted. He is passionate about the education centre and always wants to put the children first and ensure they are having a good time. He is the joker of the team, brings everyone together and also the security guard! He really is the glue of the team and definitely the best dancer too, we have all been learning from him! Always looking out for me and the volunteers, he cannot do enough for everyone. This volunteer is different to many of the Tajik volunteers I have worked with in the past, nearly all have been/are University students or graduates, but he is the first volunteer who also is supporting a family at the same time as being a volunteer. He is a great example of why this programme is so important for local young people with limited opportunities and I really hope the programme can help him in the future. With some significant challenges ahead of him I wonder what his future holds but feel lucky to have met such a great young man.

Behind The Wheel - a brillant film by Elise Laker about women in Tajikistan, having to take on typical male roles as a result of mass migration to Russia. I met Elise in Dushanbe in 2013 when she was making this film and it is really eye opening. An amazing story of one woman, her struggle and determination to succeed. It's very inspiring and please do have a watch!

This is my team's blog, its really good and got lots of great stuff about their experiences.

Trending Blogs

Recently Viewed Blogs

Tales from Tajikistan