Koch Kor, Peace Kor

Koch Kor is a town of a several thousand people located between Bishkek and Narin. Like most cities in this incredibly mountainous country, Koch Kor is nestled in a large valley situated between towering mountain ranges the higher peaks of which reach around 15,000ft. In these mountain valleys the soil is excellent and agriculture and livestock production prospers.

Koch Kor is not a major trade destination but huge volumes of goods pass through the town. Koch Kor sits along one of the country’s main highways leading from the capital to the Togurt Pass and onward to China’s Kashgar. My share taxi passed many nearly identical trucks along the road. Each was white with black Chinese symbols painted along the sign. Near Bishkek along the road leading to the city’s Dordoi and Osh bazaars these trucks were lined up for more than a mile on either side of the road. I am not sure why, but the volume of traffic was truly impressive. The only place that I have seen that compares is the ports of Seattle and Tacoma. These ports probably move more goods on a given day than the truckers on their way from Kashgar to Bishkek, but the cargo is never so apparent and visible as it was here as we drove past truck after truck delayed on the highway.

Koch Kor hosts an organization called Community Based Tourism Kyrgyzstan CBT-Kg . This NGO is dedicated to connecting tourists inclined to a somewhat grittier itinerary with locals who live somewhat gritty lives in astoundingly beautiful location. The goals of the organization are three fold: to increase the standard of living of the member families, to preserve traditional cultural through tourism and to preserve the natural environment. The Kyrgyzstan version of CBT is based upon previous successes in Nepal and Tibet.

The organization accommodates travelers who do not speak local languages and appreciate the security of working with a well-established business but want their money to go to average families, rather than businessmen in Bishkek. Locals get assistance getting involved in the tourism industry. The prices work great for everyone involved: $20/day includes transportation along rough mountain roads, a guide/translator, three homemade authentic native meals, and a place to sleep. The money then gets divided amongst the driver, guide/translator and host family. Each of whom earns a good local wage. Travelers get cheap, authentic and feel morally upright. Locals get sound sustainable income and can continue living a more traditional way of life.

There are a couple of faults or deficiencies. For travelers that want a well-polished experience, CBT may not be the best fit. All of the guides/translators I met (perhaps 5 in all) were current students or recent graduates of a Kyrgyz university. Their service seemed to me to be precisely adequate. Every need was met but there was something lacking that was hard to put my finger on but I think it boiled down to a lack of experience/confidence. Often there was little communication about what was going to happen. When people are in a new place and have no idea what is going on, it generally puts them at ease to give them a little heads up of what to expect and a couple little tidbits to help people appreciate what they see.

On the other side of the equation, it was unclear to me if CBT offered much in the way of growth opportunities for locals. The income sound and well distributed but seemed limited to the low-budget adventure traveler. That’s a good market to have cornered in Kyrgyzstan but it might be nice to offer a more polished experience for a shinier price.

I am using CBT to improve my Kyrgyz. The families live in places where Russian is not spoken and there are few, which is to say no, distractions from working on the language. I stayed at a local guesthouse in the town before heading off for the final destination – Song Kul, a large lake high in the mountains well. Several families fish and herd on the shores of the lake. Though there is a road, I had plenty of time on my hands, so I elected to get there on horseback. That took 2 days. I had another week at the lake.

I had a night in Koch Kor before taking off. I stayed with a family that runs a small guest house and hosts a Peace Corps volunteer. The volunteer had just started in on her second year on site. She was in Koch Kor as a health volunteer. The health program is brand new to Kyrgyzstan. Peace Corps volunteers are among the few foreigners I have met in Kyrgyzstan who speak Kyrgyz well and almost no Russian.

Her efforts and achievement sounded familiar for Peace Corps volunteers. The first year was frustrating as the language skills were still falling into place. With no familiarity with the local social landscape, choosing a project that effectively integrates with local needs and capacities is tricky. The first effort made was to place garbage cans around the town. People frequently complain of the omnipresence of garbage in Kyrgyzstan. Whenever one finished a wrapper from a piece of candy, it’s thrown to the ground. The bottles, pieces of paper and other assorted refuse fill the gutter and litters the streets and sidewalks. The effort to get garbage cans stalled out pretty quickly as local official could not agree about who would collect the garbage or how the service could be paid for.

The second project, informed by the experience of the first, was smaller and much more successful. The volunteer organized an effort to pick up trash along the shore of Song Kul. She went through CBT, which thanks to its tourism business has many contacts at the lake. She received some funding from a grant for publicity, new outhouses and small garbage cans. On the appointed day early in the tourist season foreign tourists and local residents of Song Kul partnered up to clean the area. They picked up a lot of trash (maybe a ton or so) and everyone enjoys the upgraded outhouses. The cans showed up late and will not be delivered until next season. There is still plenty of litter in the area but a sustained effort has to start somewhere and hopefully some follow though will help improve habits, rather than simply reset appearances.

Another project was completed with the help of the American Embassy. Each US embassy and ambassador has a set amount of money to be used for discretionary spending in the community. The embassy budgeted money to bring over a former NBA player to do a day or two of basketball clinics for local kids to promote activity and sports. The volunteer needed a project and the embassy needed someone with local connections to facilitate the clinic. So the embassy spent thousands of dollars flying a rich athlete half-way around the world so that kids that had never heard of him before could learn how to dribble. The embassy also funded the purchase of basketballs. In a country where kids often only get to go to school for half a day because there are not enough teachers or supplies for a full day, spending thousands of dollars on an NBA player and basketballs seems like it’s a lot more about the USA than about people in Kyrgyzstan. The volunteer was also not especially pleased about the basketball gig. Better than nothing, true. But an excellent example of the American government sucking at seeing the world from any perspective besides our own.

For this school year the volunteer is planning to organize and present a tooth brushing clinic at local schools. She also hopes to arrange a funding for a meeting room to be jointly used by CBT for training its local members and for local health professional meetings/seminars. Its odd to hear, but currently there is no such suitable place in the town.