More shenangans and a coming change of scene

Last weekend we mounted another noble effort to teach kids how to ski. I already wrote all about it for the Alpine Fund blog. It should be posted by 8a CST, Tuesday.

Other than that, I will just lamely say that I am staying plenty busy with studying and teaching. We are taking a local English student up on her offer to teach class. We are going to put most of the current students together in one class to be taught by her. I am a little worried they won't take to it too well because her English is not great. Of course, she was nervous speaking to a native speaker for perhaps the first time. So we'll see how it goes.

I will shuttling off to Osh bazaar for sessions there. I will teach kids from the CPC (Center for the Protection of Children). These kids are mostly not orphans. Their families typically come from out-state more impoverished rural areas to work in the bazaar. The kids get caught because they need to work some to help their family get by but cannot work full time. Often they cannot affort to go to school ($5 for supplies for a year and a decent set of clothes) so they end up just sort of... well, marginalized if I might borrow an over-used term from anthropology/sociology. One could also say, screwed. When the kids work they load and unload trucks all day and/or haul heavy carts all through the crowded bazaar. Human Rights bruised by life's demands once again. What is an idealist to do?

CPC started out giving the kids hot meals. Then it started doing a little more and a little more. Now they have a school and from what I gather also function as a sort of community center (but no pool).

There is also a CPC enclave at the dordoi bazaar where many of our students live. I have had great experiences working with those kids so I have high hopes. When more volunteers come in the next few weeks (one next week, one within two weeks of that) we hope to start Proselytizing those masses to polyglutonny as well.

Ulan is now going to school. We also hired him to work 20/hours a week. He will make $50/month. This is good money. Adilet will take his place as the office intern. Hopefully it will give him some impetus to pick up the pace with the English. I think it goes a little deeper than that though.

Kids here really do not seem to learn how to study. So I am once again thankful for something I had no real means of accurately perceiving before: a good social and family framework for academic success.

I saw an add my USAID condemning corruption and reminding Kyrgyz citizens that they will go to jail if they get busted. I guess reminding a country they it is far down by world standards for corruption could fuels some beneficial national pride. It would probably be better not to put the USAID emblem on it though as it may be seen as condescending and meddlesome. (I think they are right, the US has a lot of introspection to do before we can start preaching like that again. Our city on the hill looks more like an Ivory fortress from here.)

USAID is alright but it wants to fix deep rooted problems with "business incubators," democracy seminars and TV adds. In other words, it wants a shiny solution to gloss over a negative feedback cycles of poor governance, unaccountability and instability. The US government likes to fund HUGE projects. That is all well and good but a lot of times they are pretty out of touch. It is sort of nice irony because that is what the USSR's infrastructure construction could be like. A lot of "volunteers" come over as missionaries. I am heavily biased but I think there is a strong undercurrent of ego-centrism (with the best of intentions) when people do good so that others will believe as they believe, thur reassuring the first believer that they must have been right in the first place. Terrible sentence for a complicated problem. Anyway, I find the attitude among that crowd to often be narrow-sighted and judgmental of local practices. The whole "The religion that I have been brought up to confirm for my entire life is right because it says I am right" dynamic is really intense when the proselytizer is removed from his or her cultural context.

There are a lot of religious folks and organizations that do really good work without trying to make everyone Baptist, Lutheran or Muslim also. Way to live the dream.

Yes, it is true, I judge people for being judgmental. But you better not judge me for it or you will just prove I am right.

Love to you all.