Talas
Tidbits
Now that summer is here,
life slows down considerably. At
least for the volunteers it does. So,
there may not be much to report until school starts in September. But, what I do think of or come
across, I'll send to you. Starting
with the next email, I'll send some of the photos I took during my first year
here.
But,
Dad!!!
One of the best English
speakers I've met is a university bound girl named Baktigul. She attended the Turkish Lyceum in
town and placed 3rd in
the country at the English Olympiad in Bishkek in March. She wanted to attend college in
Malaysia, but her father said nyet. Then
she asked if she could go to school in Turkey. Again, dad said jok. When she asked if it would be okay to
attend our summer overnight camp for a week to serve as a translator, once
again, dad said no. Here's
my question. The Lyceum is
the best secondary school in Talas. It's
also expensive, too expensive for most families. So, if Baktigul's father made the
financial sacrifice to make sure his daughter get the best education possible,
why is he stifling her further advancement? Baktigul will attend the Turkish
university in Bishkek this fall. While
it's a good school, I'm sure she could've attended better if dad had been more
agreeable.
After I wrote the above
paragraph I took a walk to buy some food and I got to thinkin' maybe I was too
hard on the old man. Denying his daughter's request for Singapore might
have had something to do with distance or finances. It's one thing to come up with high
school tuition, quite another for a university in another country. As for the summer camp, that could've
been a cultural decision. Maybe
he didn't want his beautiful 17 year old daughter in a co-educational
environment for a week. (The
Lyceum is divided into two campuses, one for each gender, and they are nowhere
near each other.) But the
Turkey decision baffles me a bit. One
of the benefits of attending the Turkish schools around the world (they're in
at least 110 countries) is that you can study at a Turkish university for free.
This email revealed my lack of knowledge about Asia, Singapore, in
particular. That would change a few years later during my second trip to Turkey
where I met two lovely young women from Singapore. We stayed in contact and I
spent two days with them as part of my Malaysia holiday several months later.
Singapore rivals any expensive city in the world. When I asked the girls about
teaching there, they told me to forget it, that I’d have to give up my
traveling as the bulk of my salary would go towards my rent. Food was high,
too, except for Chinatown. I paid $20 for a medium cheese pizza. (The Singapore
$ is equal to the USD.) Now, I can see a very valid reason why Baktygul’s
father denied her the opportunity to study in Singapore. Even with free
tuition, he likely didn’t possess the wealth to handle living expenses and air
travel. Her father was a lawyer, but he wasn’t super wealthy. Nobody is in
Kyrgyzstan unless you’re related to or a good friend of the president.
Also in the book, opportunities for girls in Kyrgyzstan.
