Supporter: Patrick Eckford

Photo: Patrick Eckford/Mercy Corps

A big "RAHMAT" — "thank you" in the Kyrgyz and Uzbek languages — to our donors who helped us respond to the crisis in Kyrgyzstan! I got to play 'Grandfather Frost' (Santa Claus) on your behalf last week and want you to know how much your generosity meant to some very special kids here in Southern Kyrgyzstan.

During the violent events of last June here in Kyrgyzstan, hundreds of families lost their homes and possessions to fire and looting. In spite of some interim progress to provide victims with basic shelter and food to get through the winter, many other critical needs remain unaddressed.

So, when our Mercy Corps team in Osh learned that your fundraising pages had raised £5,551 to help with the emergency response, we turned directly to the impacted communities in Osh to ask them what they needed most. Even though the area experienced a milder than usual fall, everyone knew that winter would soon arrive with a vengeance. Parents, teachers and local leaders were all very worried that the most impacted kids lacked proper clothing to get through the winter; they especially needed winter coats.

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The presence of children in my neighborhood is a new thing -- and a very welcome sign. Photo: Patrick Eckford/Mercy Corps

When I was briefed at Mercy Corps headquarters just before leaving for Osh this time, a field veteran mentioned an important security indicator to watch for when entering a conflict zone: the presence of children.

If there are kids playing in the streets, he said, there’s a good chance it’s relatively safe. Parents just won’t knowingly put there kids in harm’s way. On the other hand, if there are no children in sight, you should be on guard.

I remembered this often during the first two weeks I was back in Osh. I’d gotten back into our old apartment and was happy about that, but it was so eerily quiet in the building and surrounding area. In fact, I had concluded that our block must be no more than 25% occupied during those first days.

But the most striking thing was that there wasn’t a single child in sight, or within earshot. And things were definitely tense. Where a year earlier there had been little girls playing with dolls and rowdy boys bouncing football balls off parked Ladas, now there was just a solitary old mangy dog and few dust devils swirling across the barren spaces between our decrepit apartment blocks. More than once the hair on the back of my neck stood up. It seemed surreal.

Even after the first week, when in spite of admonitions from our security officer, I began again my old routine of walking to and from the office, I found streets that had been choked with kids exactly a year ago were now devoid of people all together. Definitely not a child in sight.

One evening about two weeks ago now, I had just gotten home and was preparing a late dinner. Suddenly, over the simmering of my soup pot, I could just make out the surprising yet delightfully familiar sound of a giggle -- a child’s giggle! Almost autonomically, I flung open the window. Sure enough I could just make out two kids about 6 or 7, sitting on the broken wall of a nearby garage. They were completely absorbed in some sort of game, giggling and laughing as they went. I could have run out and hugged them. Of course they gave me no mind at all and will never know what a gift they’d given.

Every day now for the last two weeks or so, there has been one or two or three more kids playing in the dusty playground near our apartment. And along my route to work there is an ever growing mob of kids that assaults me with “Salaam aleikum” and even “Hello baby” that hilarious salutation they used last year, apparently lifted from a Russian rap song or C-grade video. What last year had verged on the annoying was now music to my ears.

I don’t want to read too much into this; the security situation here is still tenuous. But the slow return of children to Osh is definitely a most encouraging and welcome development.

And there is really nothing more beautiful to the ear than laughter of a child.

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Yesterday was a really good day. We approved over 130 “equity grants” (cash disbursements) to micro-entrepreneurs who suffered direct losses. Mostly their businesses or inventories had been burned or looted.

In more than half the cases their homes had also been burned. Our grants are up to £450, and while that amount will not nearly cover their actual losses it is still a significant amount of money here and will help many begin to reestablish an income stream to restart their micro business (like baking, sewing, carpentry and mini-shops).

Mercy Corps’ microfinance institution, Kompanion is also actively forgiving or restructuring loans for victims of the violence. It is really heartening to see how a little bit of good news lifts people’s spirits in spite of the horrific times they’ve been through.

Mercy Corps’ and Kompanion’s staff have also been under tremendous stress as they try to respond to the immense need. That we are now actually dispensing aid and disbursing money is a huge morale boost for them, too.

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Members of the Mercy Corps team that worked to create job opportunities in Osh, Kyrgyzstan. Photo: Mercy Corps

It has been a very difficult few days indeed watching the tragic events in southern Kyrgyzstan unfold, making frantic calls and worrying about the safety of all our dear friends and my previous colleagues there.

The little direct news I have received is chilling. One colleague has two confirmed deaths in his family and a whole family unit is still unaccounted for (it is hoped they have fled as refugees to Uzbekistan). Others we know are apparently barricaded in their homes or apartments desperately waiting for relief and badly needed food and supplies. We’ve watched online images of familiar buildings in our old Osh neighborhood being burned to the ground. And we’ve heard firsthand accounts of the chaos and tension in the streets.

I went to Osh in the fall of 2008 to manage Mercy Corps’ Collaborative Development Initiative (CDI) for its fourth and final year. The staff included Kyrgyz, Uzbeks, Tartars, Russians, Ukrainians, Koreans and me, a strange Canadian/American. It was a real melting pot and the staff was proud of our diversity, camaraderie and unity. I wish you could witness the gaiety of one of our impromptu staff birthday parties or the celebration of International Women’s Day – these images are so far from what you have been seeing on the TV over the last few days.

I will not sugarcoat the formidable problems of southern Kyrgyzstan, including insidious longstanding ethnic tensions and patterns of discrimination. They are deeply rooted and complex, but that doesn’t mean the country is a lost cause. The key is supporting sustainable economic opportunities for all Kyrgyz, of all ethnicities.

I am very concerned that in reaction to these alarming events and the widespread international press coverage, the world will get a skewed, overly negative image of the region and the character of its people. Yes, this has been horrific but the vast majority of Kyrgyz of all ethnic backgrounds are victims here, not perpetrators of violence or hatred.

After emergency relief efforts are undertaken, I sincerely hope that donor countries and organisations will not retract, but will redouble their investments and efforts in Kyrgyzstan to help establish a viable, sustainable and fair economy. That is what will bring peace and stability. Then hopefully, in the long process of growing and maturing as an emerging democracy and diverse pluralistic society, the serious, deeply rooted issues of ethnic mistrust and suspicion will be dealt with.

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