A couple pack up their belongings as the sunsets over the Osh Bazaar in Southern Kyrgyzstan. The city has recently moved forward on repaving this main strip of road in a somewhat controversial plan to develop a major new road, further displacing the economic hubs of several groups that have already been moved due to man-made events. There are currently little if any plans for rehousing those who will be displaced and the many shopkeepers are unsure of how and where they will sell their products.

A babysitter watches over a group of kids as they eat ice cream in one of the several permanent parks established during the Soviet Era in Osh, Kyrgyzstan. The permanent amusement park is about 800m long and features bumper cars, cotton candy, bb guns, numerous outdoor venues for restaurants, and karaoke booths among other shops. The park offers an economic opportunity for at least 100 families to make a living maintaining an attraction, as well as provides a source of entertainment for the rest of the public. 

Nazgul - a school teacher and journalist, mediates a roundtable discussion last week between displaced homeowners and city/regional council members in Osh, Kyrgyzstan. The conflict occurred because investors were unable to rebuild aging apartment housing because of the lack of a formal policy by the specific city offices. Although the roundtable ended with shouting, most participants said they appreciated the opportunity to come together for dialogue.

A few girls wait for a group of Tajik students to arrive in the demarcated area between the borders of Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. The “peace caravan” was an event hosted by ACTED and was meant to bring Tajik students in to Kyrgyzstan to present acts and interact with Kyrgyz students in Batken. 

These traditional Kyrgyz outfits must have been hard to wear because of the 40c heat that day. I’m sure they must have been relieved to change into cooler clothing after this part of the ceremony!

I had to stamp my passport to leave Kyrgyzstan to photograph the meeting of the students, and again to re-enter Kyrgyzstan, not having entered any other country. For one day, according to my passport, I was no where.

My first impression of Batken was far different from anything I could have expected from the reading I did before I left. Toasts with new friends on a topchan under the Manas Statue in Batken.

I found myself here after a few random but serendipitous connections at the ICRC the weekend before. After securing a ride with another organization, I happened to meet two really incredible guys, Bill and Jim who each have 30+ years of experience in the Air Force and Policing respectively. Their job in Batken is to train local police and build their capacity to police well. Anyways, they agreed to let me stay with them and I met them here, on a topchan, celebrating the birthday of Laura! A great group of folks and lot of fun. I was very blessed to share many plates of plov and cups of vodka with these folks. A great introduction to Batken. 

Sorry I’m pretty back logged from the past 2 weeks for blog updates. I went to Batken in Southern Kyrgyzstan two weeks ago and shot an event for ACTED and stayed with some OSCE and UNDP folks. Here’s a zoomed map showing Batken and the territories within a few kilometers of Batken. There is a frequent conflict over border demarcation, and water rights among other issues in this region. Requests for funding to fix massive infrastructural problems have long been ignored by the central government, presumably because of the distance between Batken and the capital city Bishkek in the north. A Kyrgyz man was shot by Uzbek guards the night before I was supposed to return and there was disagreement about what happened. Needless to say, there were protests and my trip back was delayed for a day. Seeing a map as marked up as this and knowing how historically fluid ethnicity has been in the region brings up a lot of questions regarding peace and what the intentions of these borders were. There is frequent conflict in Batken, although I had a nice stay myself. More images to follow.

This is Hobbes, sandwiched about 4 meters from the ground between the neighbor’s roof and the siding of the house. Nona found her on the streets a few years ago and she took her in after that. Hobbes has really grown on me in the past month. I’m considering starting a cat blog given all the photos I’ll inevitably take of her and her shenanigans.  A few Russians own cats, but in general, most people don’t keep cats or dogs within their homes.

A few organizations organized a hip-hop and breakdance event near the fountain in Aravansky in Osh with the help of sponsors from Bishkek. It was definitely a younger crowd, and many of them were from Bishkek. There were heaps of people there and it was challenging without great Russian or Kyrgyz skills.

A few guys take a break from swimming at Lake Tortkul near Batken in Southern Kyrgyzstan. (at Tortkul Reservior)

at Tortkul Reservior

Two men dance at an Uzbek wedding that Amanda, Emily and I came across on Saturday night in Arslanbob. There were predominantly males at the event that happened after the marriage ceremony during the day. The groom and his best man sat at the table in front  as a guy in a shiny grey suit would sing songs in Uzbek over loud techno pop music. Between songs, friends of the groom would give a clever blessing then dance for a song while they collected money to give the groom. The bride was not present.

A young girl in Arslanbob stands in front of her home. 

Spent the weekend in the mountains in the Uzbek village of Arslanbob with Amanda who has been living there on a Fulbright for the past 3 months. Spending lots of time shooting portraits on medium format for a separate project but this was one I made when we walked by the saw mill. 

I have the opportunity to begin learning Kyrgyz with Aychurak’s help. Residents of Kyrgyzstan speak primarily Russian and Kyrgyz. While Russian is a more prevalent in the North, and may be more useful in the longer term, Kyrgyz is the primary language in the South where I am based. Going through alphabet tables and learning how to pronounce letters has been humbling to say the least. I’m working hard at my studies and hope to be able to start conversing more openly within a few weeks. 

This is the journalist Ydyrysc, in the main newsroom of Yntymak Radio in Osh city.

Today we interviewed the technical director and a few journalists at Yntymak Radio, one of Youth of Osh’s partnering news organizations. As Kyrgyzstan was still a member of the Soviet Union in 1990, it has been really interesting to learn about the trends in journalism and the changes that have occurred over the past 20 years.

An Uzbek woman asked me to take a photo of her children at the top of Sulayman Mountain.

Kyrgyzstan consists of about 68% Kyrgyzs, 14% Uzbeks, 9% Russians and about 1% each of several other minorities. Specifically in the city of Osh, Uzbeks make up a much higher percentage of the population, upwards of 48% in some reports. More than 260,000 live in Osh.

Yesterday we went to a sanatorium- like a hospital, but more fun, and more soviet :) Here we helped with a media training for local journalists to minimize conflict and avoid potential escalations like in June 2010. This photo is from before the training, before anyone had arrived.

On my first day we drove to Jalalabad where we were hosting a roundtable discussion on issues in border communities on border with Uzbekistan. Many of these areas are unstable and there is frequent conflict between border guards on either side. 

In a strange twist of fate, about an hour after we left the meetings in the Jalalabad Oblast Administration building, a separate protest overtook the building and occupied it.

Details on that: translated news link here

Glad we made it back safely. Interesting first day.

Kyrgyz border guards at the roundtable discussions. The talks lasted about 3 hours and included community leaders, journalists and border guards from each side.

It was a long trip (40+ hours) but finally made it to Osh.

This is from the top of Mount Sulayman in the center of town. 

President Barack Obama taking office for his second term. ©ZachKrahmer