Documenting the Plight of Uzbeks in Kyrgyzstan: Flowering Hope

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Flowering Hope

One home I (Jeff) visited had virtually everything destroyed as is almost always the case. We sat in their courtyard on the two stools that hadn't been burned and surrounded by the roofless crumbling mud brick walls seared black amidst broken glass, broken asbestos roofing sheets and ash and grit and they served us tea. It is hard for them because these people are so hospitable and want so badly to be good hosts to us but they have nothing to offer but maybe some tea in some piyolas that haven't been broken or that have been given by someone.

In this particular house, everything was gone but there was a large potted cactus plant that had two huge white blooms on it on one side of the cactus and the other side was damaged. They said the bud shoot on the damaged side was burned or knocked off during the fire and they put it out in the courtyard and gave it water and the two huge white blooms (4 inches across) came out and gave life and freshness in contrast to the ash and destruction all around them. I told the middle-aged man, his old mother and his young son that this plant represented their lives. The fire knocked off the beauty of their life and burned and damaged it, but beauty can emerge from these ashes. They understood the analogy as they looked at the beautiful blooms in front of them and I think some hope was restored to them. We tell people, 'they can take your house and your stuff and can take lives but don't let them also take your hope and your dignity.' I wonder about them now.

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Glossary

Choy – green tea, served in ‘tea bowls’ called piyola (see separate entry)

Fergana Valley – Osh, the city we are reporting from, is located at the end of this valley, a fertile region settled by Uzbeks centuries ago. Stalin divided the valley into three uneven areas, thus delegating some of the Uzbeks to Uzbekistan, some to Tajikistan and some to Kyrgyzstan. This blog concerns the Uzbeks living inside the Kyrgyz border.

Hovli - walled courtyard. Usually the various rooms of the house, along with outhouses, baths, and so forth, are wrapped around the inside walls. Generally, extended family live together; particularly parents, their sons, wives and children.

Kelin - daughter-in-law.

Kozon - huge cooking pot used in canning.

Mahalla – a locally-governed neighborhood region. Instead of asking, ‘What street do you live on,’ we might ask, ‘What mahalla do you live in?’

Mehmon – a guest. Uzbeks have a saying, ‘a guest is more honored than a father.’ (and fathers/elders are very honored!)

Mehmondo’stlik – hospitality. Daily, we are humbled by the generous hospitality of people who have lost everything.

Nan – round flats of bread, eaten at every meal, or every time people sit together.

Piyola – small handle-less tea cups.

Ramazan – Islamic month of fasting, this year starting around August 10th. During this month, the first meal of the day is partaken of before the first light of the sun (about 5 am) and the fast will be broken after the sun goes down, when ‘a white thread and a black thread can not be distinguished from one another,’ probably around 8:30 pm. During the course of the day no food, water, or cigarettes can be used. This will be a significant difficulty this year, for those who wait in burned-out hovlis, their trees burned, and with nothing to do but wait and wait for the hours to pass.

Sart - a derogatory term used for Uzbeks. During the four days of violence in June 2010, the walls of houses were labeled with ‘sart’ or ‘Kyrgyz.’ The ones labeled ‘Kyrgyz’ were spared.

Supa - a traditional raised platform on which people, sit, eat, and sleep

Tushak – cotton-filled rectangular mats, used for both sitting on and sleeping on.

Uzbek – an ethic group comprised of people mainly from Uzbekistan, but many are also found in surrounding regions, such as here in Osh, carved up by the Soviet knife of ‘divide and conquer’ to prevent regions from becoming too powerful during the Soviet era.

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Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Flowering Hope

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