Europe and Central Asia: Kyrgyzstan
A beautiful backdrop for building
Tea and team work: building a house in Kyrgyzstan!
Habitat for Humanity volunteer Sarah Smith reflects on her recent experiences on a Global Village build in Kyrgyzstan.
Snow-capped mountains, a clear blue lake, babbling streams and beautiful countryside – this was the backdrop to our Habitat for Humanity trip to Kyrgyzstan. This stunning landscape, combined with amazingly hospitable and friendly people and the rewarding work of helping to build a house made for a truly unforgettable experience.
I led a team of nine people to Barskoon, a small village that is home to 7,200 people in the Issykul region of the country. We were helping Urmat and his wife Guljan to build a simple, decent house of their own.
Urmat, Guljan, Rysbek, Ryskul and their three cousins
It was moving to hear what a Habitat for Humanity house means to Urmat and his family. Their current house only has two rooms, is in a bad state of repair and is very cold in winter when temperatures drop to around -40. In the new house, their twin children Rysbek and Ryskul will have their own room, with space to do their homework and have friends round. The house will be finished by autumn and ready for the family to move in and spend a warm and dry winter in their new home. Best of all, in 10 years time the family will own their home by making small monthly payments.
The family first bought a plot of land 10 years ago, but could not afford to finish building their house. To complete the house would have cost 200,000 soms (around £2,430), but with a monthly family income of only 1,000 soms (around £12), their dream of a new home could never have become a reality without Habitat for Humanity.
We were soon making good bricks according to local volunteers!
To help build the house our team learned how to make bricks, hammered floorboards, prepared and applied mud to the interior walls and fixed wiring to the external walls ready for plastering. We were shown how to do each task by Janybec the Construction Manager and Zourech the Global Village Co-ordinator. Despite language barriers, we had great fun working with the local volunteers – it's amazing what a thumbs up and a smile can communicate! Once we got into the swing of things we seemed to do a good job and were delighted to get ahead of schedule. One kind local looked at our bricks and asked if we were construction specialists – although I'm not sure if he was just being polite!
We stayed with local families and had an amazing variety of food at Zourech's house, from local dishes like Manti (meat dumplings) to more familiar things like omelette and soup. The Kyrgyz people drink tea constantly and one cup is never enough, so it's an ideal destination for English teams. Our first free day was also a reminder of England – a large picnic had been laid out up in the mountains and just as we all sat down to eat the heavens opened and we all got soaked. We definitely had a reputation for bringing our weather with us!
The Habitat for Humanity build in Kyrgyzstan really was the experience of a lifetime. We experienced Kyrgyz culture firsthand, made friends, had fun and best of all we helped to make a lasting difference to a local family and in turn they and the rest of the community made a lifelong impression on us.
Find out more about Habitat for Humanity's work in Kyrgyzstan
Read about the houses we build in Europe and Central Asia
