And more photos...

Anne's - http://kyrgystanjuly2007.snapfish.com/snapfish

Joanne's - on http://share.shutterfly.com/action/pictures;jsessionid=8C832A21313608F939112933D2BC82A4?a=67b0de21b352b274e473&sid=1AcN2LFo1ZMWEh

and Laura's - http://www1.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=173825041/a=56792520_56792520/t_=56792520

Enjoy :-)

Dear all

Kyrgyzstan… Oh where to begin?

With the breath-taking scenery? The warmth and generosity of the Kyrgyz people? The succulent food? The temperate waters of Lake Issy Kol? The bizarre alpine flora? The dedication and team spirit of my friends, family and colleagues who all pulled together on this trip? The glorious “bagna” where a day’s filth disappeared from our pores? Or the full repertoire of “The Sound of Music” being sung by colleagues from three continents? I just don’t know....!

I could also recount scary driving experiences, and the shock of witnessing the immediate aftermath of a fatal, multiple car accident in a remote, mountainous area; the “rather too full” out-house that splashed just a tad; the occasional water/electricity outages; the bone-chillingly freezing ground we tried in vain to sleep on in our nomadic “yurt”; or any of the other little frustrations associated with things going “not quite right” that are inevitable when travelling in less familiar places. But those things are long forgotten now, and that’s about the extent of the niggles, whereas the first list could go on and on.

Oh yes – I could even recount a few funnies – like the cow who ventured horns to tail into our yurt up in the mountains while we were still comatose; the extraordinary way Dave NEVER EVER seemed to get a single drop of mud on his clothes, regardless of the work he did (and then said “if I hear anyone comment one more time on my lack of muddy clothes, I will really scream”…. And of course we all wanted to see Dave scream….; then there was Mike and Francesca’s “hammering and nailing dance” at the house dedication in Saruu; the honouring of my parents as the most elderly people on the trip (I should probably pop that back up there in the first category, I am sure)….Memories galore.

Yes – it was an unmissable experience.

Most of us have been back now for over a month, and at some level the trip feels like it never even happened. “Normal” life has taken over, and it’s only during the odd quiet moment, on receiving someone’s photos from the trip, getting my own photos back, or a kind note from someone from the trip, that jolts me and reminds me of the rich experiences we had.

Sixteen of us ventured forth to Kyrgyzstan, the small, ex-Soviet Republic in Central Asia – smaller than South Dakota apparently, for those that might mean something to; or, using my own scale, approximately the combined size of England and Scotland (no Wales, and no Scottish Islands). Kyrgyzstan borders with China, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan – yes, way East. Next to China, like I say. Close to Afghanistan and Pakistan. Silk Road and Gengis Khan territory. Did you know that before Gengis Khan came a-plundering and a-pillaging, Kyrgyz people were blond with blue eyes? Just one of those titbits learned along the way! Terrain is 93% mountainous, with some 7,000m+ peaks. This would also mean approx 6% arable land, and presumably about 1% urban on. Population 5 million. People living below the poverty line, and without adequate housing: 40% or more. Average annual income a mere $440 (teachers and others earn a lot less). I said annual income, not monthly.

We (mostly) all met in Istanbul airport and flew Turkish Airlines east, through the night, to land at about 3 am on Saturday 14th July. Arrived at our perfectly wonderful Bishkek hotels at 5 am, just as it was getting light, and got a few hours rest. Hotels had hot running water, which was more than I had asked for. Saturday was spent catching up to our new time-zone, wandering around the town of Bishkek (hot, dry, Soviet and concrete-y, but interesting nonetheless for watching faces, visiting markets, witnessing events, and of course eating food and drinking beer!).

On Sunday we had our orientation and visited the Habitat for Humanity site on the north side of town, where Habitat has won an award for innovative cane-reed construction techniques. Very interesting. Teams of people (construction workers and future house-owners work side by side, with volunteers if there is a team out there. No-one knows who will get which house, so all work carefully in case it ends up being theirs. This notion appealed to the socialist in me. Absolutely delicious lunch on benches in the orchard next to the building site, followed by a visit (or should I say “invasion”) of some finished houses, complete with welcoming inhabitants. They knew we might turn up and so prepared a feast for us on the off-chance. Delicious food, beautiful people, big welcoming smiles and patient answers to our many questions were to become a recurring theme.

After lunch, the 6 (or longer for some) hour drive through the mountains (and past the accident) to Barskoon, on the south shore of Lake Issy Kol. Altitude approximately 1,800m, terrain like alpine meadows, with impressive snowy peaks off into the distance. Not that we saw it the night we arrived. More delicious food and off to our beds in four different houses. Accommodation simple but comfortable. Plenty of bright, colourful rugs and thick blankets. Clever little wash basins that stored water in the back, or in a high basin, and that let it out with the use of a simple tap, or weighted pluggy thing. Very ingenious. Not that I was ever the one to go and get the water from its source. I am sure that would be tedious in the middle of freezing winter.

Early (to me) start each day with breakfast at 7h20 (precisely), and briefing for the day’s work. Breakfast might have been any of the following: a kind of porridge, eggs, bread and unbelievable jams, cold spaghetti, mini batter-type things, and lashings of black tea. Briefing was about the house and family we were working on for the day, the type of work we would do, how to do it, and useful safety guidelines.

During the week, we worked on two different half-built houses – that is houses some way along the road to completion. The first house was for the Suyunduk family with their five children, and the second house for the Sabyrov family (also with five children). The work we did was very physical and involved hammering thousands of nails (jolly hard work depending on what angle the nails are at, if your shoulder is smashed in multiple places as was the case for one of us, or if you are doing it upside down into beams half a metre thick); wiring around the nails with rather undisciplined wire, and cutting it off with anything from bare hands to Joanne’s posh wire cutters (much in demand); mixing mud from earth, straw and water (back-breaking work, even when beautiful ponies were roped in to do some of the chore); making bricks from mud (I never did this and was in awe of the dream team of women who did this so beautifully), hoisting buckets of water or mud up a precariously-perched pully), slapping mud on to floors for insulation, kneeding it and floating it (I sound very knowledgeable don’t I with some of these terms I didn’t know two months ago!); and the best activity of all – throwing lovely wet, sloppy, gritty, warm, textured, even tasty, mud at external walls for insulation; we layered it on nice and thick, and floated it to make it smooth. How my Kyrgyz partner in crime managed to reach those top spots without toppling from the scaffold, I will never know. As for the mud-throwing – what fun! What a laugh! Hard, physical work, but satisfying in the extreme. Even if my clothes have not come clean since!

Mike, my husband, and a former construction manager, reckons we moved the houses along at least a couple of weeks each. So it’s far from building a house in its entirety. More about just helping future home-owners along in their arduous task. Habitat for Humanity’s policy is that, along with paying off an interest-free loan for the cost of the house, future homeowners need to put in approximately 500 hours “sweat equity”, and labour on the house themselves. Hard in a climate where the building months are short, if you are trying to hold down another job, and have five kids. I can’t imagine.

We had frequent and very welcome breaks. Tea break in the morning and afternoon – which was never just tea, of course, but bread, delicious local jams, the little churros/doughnut-type things… I wasn’t hungry the entire time we were there! While I put on weight in Armenia, the work this time was much more physical and my excessive calorie intake didn’t seem to have an effect on the scales back home. I bet some of my more abstemious friends actually lost weight. Lunches and dinners were also tasty – at least to my palate and taste buds. Lots of mutton, potatoes, noodles, soups. No desserts as we westerners might define them. The bread and jam served the function if needed and were omnipresent. Any alcohol was beer we bought from local shops ourselves. Though a shot of vodka was forced on me by my host family as we left!

In all, we worked on the two houses for a total of 3 ½ days, which is not such a lot. Habitat trips are usually longer. Our remaining time was spent in “rest and relaxation”, and at a “house dedication”. Each deserves a short paragraph.

We had a day and a half of “rest and relaxation”, and had elected to have a somewhat traditional experience of staying overnight in a traditional Kyrgyz “yurt” (or nomadic tent). These are wonderful to look at – cream coloured canvas supported by flexible sticks; roundish, open at the top for light and aerating, cool by day, warm by night (hmmm – this might depend on whether or not there was an insulated ground sheet… not). Perfectly sizeable for a group our size, plus the hosts (grandfather, grandmother, sons, daughter-in-law, and 1 year old grandson).

Most of us walked some of the way up to camp from nearby Bokonbaeva. The camp was set amid breathtaking alpine scenery – gentle green mountains, with more jagged snowy peaks off into the distance; a bubbling stream; a herd of cows; and the toilet you just wanted to spend time in because the view across to Lake Issy Kol and the mountain range opposite side were awesome.

We had tea, quickly followed by dinner (well, we had been rather slow walking up the mountain). Stories, then music and singing of traditional Kyrgyz songs by our host, who shamed us with his wonderful voice and musical repertoire, and contrasted somewhat with our lack of collective musical confidence or competence. But we were graciously saved by our brave Scottish sisters Anne and Liz who graced us with traditional ballads (and on more than one occasion).

Yes – the night was damned awful. No two ways about it. It could have been a totally idyllic experience. And while I know we might exaggerate about just how little sleep we really got, I swear I got my best and only sleep between 6h40 am and 6h55 am when Dave and Mike were shooing the cow out of the yurt! It was COLD!! The ground seeped up through my bones. I was wearing every layer I had with me – which was more than most had brought. I was sardined between two other bodies. All to no avail. Frozen solid all night long. I always get rather morbid in such situations and predict that my death, should I live to a grand old age, will occur from freezing in my sleep (I get cold in a normal bed….). Francesca and Massimo, on the other hand, had the wisdom of sleeping under the stars and for some bizarre reason were warm(ish) and slept like babies – at least Francesca did. Her having a minus 30 degree C sleeping bag might have helped, I suppose.

A relief to get up and begin the day with black tea, bread and jam. Never so delicious! And a walk that was thwarted to say the least, but still beautiful. We attempted to get to a glacier at 3,800m. But for some reason I never quite understood, the guides said that the path was dangerous and we couldn’t get there. Oh well. I did rather well getting over my disappointment in about 2 hours flat, and chose to enjoy the bizarre mountain flora (those amazing thistles; edelweiss growing like daisies; and many flowers I couldn’t name).

Back to base camp with the yurts; another delicious meal, some glorious sunning of ourselves like lizards on rock; then back to our more urban base or Barskoon (population a few thousand). What a treat! What a “time out of time”. Even the lying about on rocks sunning ourselves and reading was worth the entire trip, from my perspective. Rest-time that I, for one, never get.

After work the next day (Friday afternoon) we had the privilege of being invited to a “house dedication” in Saruu, a village east along the lake shore, about 40 minutes drive away. When Habitat-funded houses are complete, the tradition is to have a house-dedication. This is a ceremony where the house keys are handed over to the new home-owners. In the case of the house in Saruu, a great big party was on offer (we should have known by then that the Kyrgyz don’t do things by halves, and that special welcoming gene overrides all else). We (actually, Mike and I specifically) were invited to do some final painting of a remaining window frame, and cut the red, satiny ribbon (I felt like royalty!) before taking the keys to open the front door. I felt that the honour bestowed on me was a bit embarrassing, but went along with it not least because it was jolly fun. My mild embarrassment turned to speechlessness when Peter pulled me aside, took me to the front of the house, and showed me a plaque dedicating the house to me, in appreciation of efforts to eradicate poverty housing in Kyrgyzstan. So this was the house that had benefited specifically from the funds raised by the long mountain run last August! I was enormously touched and honoured.

We danced a lot, sang a bit (some with a microphone – Liz, Anne, Joy, Jenny, Massimo and Mike), and some without (the rest of us). We ate and ate and ate. I have a great photo of Francesca just laughing at the food presented to us! She seems to be thinking, “What – eat AGAIN?! We have just eaten!” Mum and dad were instructed to sit at the back of the room, opposite the entrance. Apparently it’s the place of honour for the most esteemed guests (one could also say the eldest, which is the way it works in this culture).

We spent a few hours at the party for the house dedication, dancing off at least a bit of the many courses we had ingested, and playing and dancing with the extensive family – if I recall correctly, about 10 people or so were going to live in it, comprising three generations. It was a very moving afternoon.

We worked one more half-day after that, then headed back to Bishkek, minus three in the party (Jeanne, Francesca and Massimo) who were extending their holiday and going mountain trekking. They had stories galore to recount, but came back safe and sound, which was the main thing. The journey back was nice and uneventful, the way I like it.

After a farewell dinner and a very short night in our respective Bishkek hotels, we tried to get a bit of sleep, and most of us got up at about midnight to head for the airport and our 3 am flights west to Istanbul. Everything went very smoothly. I chatted to a British diplomat family with three young kids while at the airport and determined to bring our own kids to this part of the world before too long. I think travel here is definitely more complicated, and tolerance and patience are needed, but it’s perfectly doable, even with kids our age.

As for being in Istanbul airport – how nice to luxuriate in the richness of what it had to offer, even if the amount we spent on Turkish coffee, espresso, caffe latte, and other goodies, was totally obscene.

And then back, back to our various homes, or for Jennifer, on to the next adventure. It felt wrong somehow to be dealing with “normal”, routine matters – working through the mail, dealing with phone messages, looking over email. We hadn’t had any email access through our Blackberries all the time we were in Kyrgyzstan; only the occasional SMS came through. It was surprisingly easy to get used to. I felt on holiday in a way that is just not normally possible in today’s technology age.


To end, here’s a quote from Jenny Scott, who travelled all the way from Melbourne for this experience. She sums it up better than I ever could: "An opportunity to gain more than you could have wished for by giving up more than you initially imagined you ever would. We worked hard, we gave up luxuries and we earned the love of a whole community. And, most of all, we built houses for global neighbours who don't have one. At the end of the day it was easy to leave mine for while".


Thank you all, to the team of 15 friends who trusted me enough to fly to this place far away from Scotland, Italy, France, Switzerland, Belgium, The Netherlands, Hungary, the US, and Australia; to the Habitat employees and volunteers in Kyrgyzstan for holding our hands so gently; to the people of Barskoon for welcoming us into their village and homes, being patient with us, and feeding us such delicious fare; to everyone who sponsored the crazy run in the mountains; to anyone who was just plain interested and supportive; and to Laura from Habitat for Humanity who helped lead the team and managed all the hard bits. You all helped make the trip come true, and to get some families closer to living in decent housing.

As for those people who are clamouring for information on a future trip… I do have some ideas, plus a scary ambition as to how to raise some money… More another time!

Thanks again,
Emma


PS: Photo links for anyone brave enough to look at them. I haven't had the time, energy or inclination to name them, so just put them on slideshow while you are waiting for the kettle to boil....

A short-ish selection: http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=171490507/a=102552589_102552589/t_=102552589

The full caboodle: http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=171375176/a=102552589_102552589/t_=102552589

Habitat for Humanity Kyrgyzstan
Newsletter 4 – July 2007

Hi all

I apologise for the delay in getting this to you. I realise that some people are already away from homes or about to leave homes. I hope this information is not too late. If you find things in this email that you are not prepared with, send me a note or give me a call and I will bring extras of what I can.

I know it's a lot of information but please read carefully.

My hope is that this is the final communication, and that it's complete enough for your remaining questions to be answered. The newsletter contains the following elements:

Travel information (meeting up, how to get to hotel, where we are staying, what we will do on arrival)
Barskoon information (family profile for the individuals with which we will be working; information on our trip into the mountains; reminders about packing essentials and recommendations; tools; gifts
Logistics information (donations; visas; passport copies)
Miscellaneous information (emergency numbers; money; departure tax information - there is none; blurbs on us; Habitat Newsletter; lots of internet links)

TRAVEL INFORMATION
Most of us (all except for Teresa, Peter and Joy) will be flying at the same time from Istanbul to Bishkek. Since we we are all arriving from various corners, let's meet in the GATE AREA where the flight to Bishkek is scheduled to leave from. Laura will be wearing a Habitat t-shirt or hat. You all know me, except for Liz, who will be with Anne who does. So recognising at least someone should not be a problem. If the first leg of our trip is on time, Mike and I should be there at about 18h00 or so. Our own flight leaves at 19h15.
Once we arrive in Bishkek, there will be a van to take us (the big group) to our hotels. Unfortunately we are in two separate hotels.
Asia Mountains Hotel, St Lineinaya, #1-a (Moskovskaya/Gogolya); Tel: (+996 312) 690 235 where (on the 13th July) we have 2 double rooms ($48), two double rooms half lux ($60); for the 14th we have 2 additional single rooms for Peter & Teresa (all that was available) ($36 per room)
Shumkar Asia Hotel, St Osipenko, 34; Tel: (+996 312) 27 21 05 or 67 11 41, where on the 13th and 14th we will have 3 double rooms ($54).
I don't know how far they are apart. I will make sure that Laura and I are in separate hotels.
For the 21st July, we have arranged the following: Asia Mountains Hotel: 2 double rooms ($48); 3 double rooms half lux ($60), and 2 single rooms ($36 per room); Shumkar Asia Hotel: 2 double rooms ($54)
Jenny and my parents will be in Istanbul for a couple of days before we fly, and have separately arranged to meet up the previous evening.
Teresa & Peter fly overnight Sat/Sun from Moscow. There will be a taxi driver with your names on it waiting to drive you to the Asia Mountains Hotel.
Joy flies from Moscow too, overnight Fri/Sat. There will be a Habitat volunteer waiting for you, and who will drive you to your hotel.
While I hate to prescribe sleeping arrangements, in order to avoid any mess ups, particularly for Joy who arrives alone, I am going to do just that. Most of the rooms are double rooms - I have no idea if that means big bed for two, or two twins, so sorry in advance if there needs to be unexpected intimacy. My suggested room allocation is: mum & dad; Em & Mike; Laura & Jeanne; Anne & Liz; Massimo & Dave; Francesca & Joanne; Jennifer & Joy; Teresa & Peter in singles in Asia Mountains.
Again, even more prescriptive, let's have mum & dad; Laura & Jeanne; Francesca & Joanne; Jennifer & Joy in Asia Mountains on 13th and 14th; Teresa & Peter join on the 14th. And Em & Mike; Anne & Liz; Massimo & Dave in Shumkar Asia Hotel on 13th & 14th.
In terms of what we will do on arrival - sleep a bit! Definitely try to catch some sleep. Those of us there Saturday, we are thinking of a little low-key visit of the town. I specified that this group would probably want relaxation and pootling about, rather than any great structured visit, but correct me if I am wrong. We can wander around some sites and go to a market and spend money if that way inclined. See below for information on money. For Teresa & Peter, we will leave you a note as to what we will do on Sunday. Likely to be something like: orientation with all of us and the local Habitat volunteer, Elzat; visit to Habitat neighbourhood in Bishkek; Osh Bazaar; Lunch and leave for Barskoon. Long mountainous drive - about 6 hours. Take anti-sickness tablets if anyone gets car-sick.

BARSKOON INFORMATION
I won't repeat the information on Barskoon I got from Tanya. Go back to the previous newsletter if you want to read some of that. Also, I came across an amazing blog written by a team of Brits who went to Kyrgzystan just weeks ago, also Barskoon. The link is http://www.mortier.free-online.co.uk/Kyrgyzstan/ and is also below. It's a long read but a good one.
Information on the families we will be working with is contained in the attachment "Family Profiles". We are going to need to work on getting their names right! Looks, not surprisingly, like life is tough.
Our work! Here's information we received from Elzat, our contact. We will be working on the Half-built Project that is completing houses that are already 50% complete. The work consists of plastering interior and exterior walls, installing ceilings, making clay bricks. The work schedule varies according to activities planned for each day, but the approximate workday is from 8.00 am to 4.00 pm (one hour for lunch break)
Our rest & relaxation trip - the plan is a walk up into the mountains to a glacier and stay overnight in a traditional yurt. Probably altitude of 3000m. So it will be cold overnight. Barskoon itself is at about 1800 m. It is mountainous indeed. Please bring appropriate attire.
CLOTHING is important. Bring layers. Expect it to be hot in the day (30C+) and chilly in the evenings and at night. I am bringing a sleeping bag, even though it's not said to be necessary. I just get cold. We will have sleeping bags provided for the mountain trip for $10 fee. I recommend, if you have one, to bring a "sheet sleeping bag" - just in case it's hot where we sleep in Barskoon - I expect it will be fairly cramped. Also bring rain jacket, suitable boots for hiking/working, jeans, t-shirts, sunblock, sunhat, sunglasses, water purifying tablets just in case, water bottle. Also toilet paper, wipes, anti-diahorrea tablets, small torch, and a day/overnight backpack for our trip up the mountain. You all have the "super long packing list" in Newsletter 3? Don't feel like you need to take it all, but it might stimulate some thought.
Sleeping: probably sharing 3-4 to a room across a few different houses.
Gifts: We have some colouring stuff, paper, pens, two deflated footballs with pump, badminton set for kids.. things like that. I am not sure really what to suggest, other than the points made in the previous email. Perhaps some simple but useful household goods, or more things for older kids.
Tools: Mike and I are taking a ridiculous amount of stuff - tools galore for the site (which we just hope we can get onto the plane, and not pay a charge for, including two saws, 6 hammers, dust masks, gloves, 2 hard hats, bla bla... a whole bag. I noticed somewhere that there is a shortage of nails. The construction sites will not be well equipped, but if you bring some basics cheaply, like: nails (big tough long ones I imagine), hammer with a nail puller outer at the end, gloves for construction (like gardening gloves), and dust mask, that would be good. You can get these in any hardware store. We have 6, so 4 extras for anyone who can't get to a decent shop. We will also try to buy nails in Bishkek.
We have received a document from Habitat that looks very formal, but is in fact an adaptable Word document, which we plan to show at the airport if there's a fuss. See "Donation letter for Airlines". If you are planning on taking many tools, and worried about whether or not airlines will mind (weight, security), then please adapt the letter appropriately and print a couple of copies.

LOGISTICS INFORMATION
Donations: Please finalise the $650 if you have not yet done that. There have been some problems with the HfH Germany website and payments (including mine, Anne) have not gone through appropriately which is frustrating. So please check that the amount has been debited from a statement. And if you still need to do it (or redo it, as in our case), please use the US site, and pay $650. http://www.habitat.org/cd/gv/participant/participant.aspx?pid=6562-0129. Remember the code which is GV8960. Sorry about this frustrating glitch.
Visas - I think we are all sorted, and we will cross our fingers for Jennifer. It was crazy for Jennifer in Australia to get this sorted, and the embassy in Canberra never once picked up the phone in two weeks of calling. We will literally pull you onto the plane if anything happens! And you can laugh when in Bishkek you buy your visa for a 1/3 of the price we spent.
Passport copies - Laura would like a scanned copy of your passport before we leave. Failing that, please bring a copy of your picture page and give to her in Istanbul.
MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION
Emergency Numbers - Laura and team have prepared this document for us. Please print and bring, and/or give to someone who might need to get in touch. I am pretty sure we will have mobile phone access, even in Barskoon. See Excel spreadsheet Emergency Management Kyrgyzstan.
Money - As a reminder, we have been advised to bring USD which we will change into Kyrgyz currency, the som. I have asked Joanne to bring back some USD for me & Mike and am taking $600 for the two of us which I expect to be far in excess of what we will spend but one never knows. That said, I expect that Euros are fine too, and no doubt pounds sterling, though the tip we got from Habitat volunteers on the ground in Kyrgyzstan was that USD are better perceived. Hopefully, between ourselves, we will have enough cash to buy what we want even if we need to pool some of the money and owe it to each other. Clearly we will have credit cards too, but don't expect them to be accepted beyond Bishkek. Not a lot to buy in Barskoon anyway, I expect. We will want soms for Barskoon. As of right now, €1 is 50 som; $1 is 40 (some rounding, but you get the picture).
To give you a sense of possible souvenirs and their costs, Laura said that the Kyrgyz were known for felt products and carpets. On her last trip she bought felt slippers which were about $8 a pair. She also bought a small rug which was about $80. So you can spend a bit! At Osh Bazaar we would pay in soms.
Bartering/Negotiating about price: apparently it's fine, though if we are guided by a Habitat volunteer in Osh Bazaar, we might be taken to some women who know about Habitat. There the prices are lower and we should not barter.
Departure Tax: Anne read something about the need to keep money aside to pay on departure, but apparently this has been abolished, so no need.
Blurbs on who's going! It took a lot of nagging, but I finally have a complete set of blurbs from each of us - why we want to go, etc... Attached in Blurbs doc. Thank you!
Habitat's most recent Kyrgyzstan Summer newsletter is also attached if you want to know more about what Habitat is doing in the region.
Finally - more Miscellany

Internet links - Finally, all sorts of interesting links - if anyone ever has time to peruse! I have skim-read some of these, so might not have done a great quality vs quantity analysis. Still, if stuff looks interesting, please print off information so we have it within the team. Likewise if you find anything else, bring it along. I don't have a detailed map of our destination. A friend in the area here used to guide trekking trips to Kyrgyzstan (I only just found out!) and has tried to locate her maps but has moved home so often she now thinks they are lost for good. Massimo, I know you have some so please bring. If anyone else has any, please bring! I have the Lonely Planet which I will bring. Some maps in that.

BARSKOON
http://www.mortier.free-online.co.uk/Kyrgyzstan/

This is an account of a team of Brits who went with Habitat to Barskoon just a few weeks ago. It's an impressive blog, with photos, and seems to have been written up while there.... so perhaps internet access/mobile phone access after all. Or perhaps just good notes later put onto the site. Anyway, it's long but worth a read in terms of getting a "realistic job preview". I would reiterate, on reading this, that the following are indispensible: sun cream, sun hat, good walking/working boots, ear plugs (the rooster!), anti-diahorrea tablets (the chap appropriately named Mort). Oh - and a solid sense of humour! There's mention of fear of rabid dogs. I went to the pharmacy here to see if we could get vaccinations. You can have preventative vaccinations for rabies, or "post hoc" ones. The post hoc ones, after a bite, obviously require refrigeration. So I hope no-one is too worried about that. The issue seemed to arise when the team went for a long walk for their R&R.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barskoon

http://www.kyrgyzstan.orexca.com/issyk-kul.shtml Information on Lake Issy-Kol on an interesting adventure travellers' website, OrexCA (Oriental Express Central Asia)

BISHKEK

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bishkek

http://www.angelfire.com/rnb/bashiri/Bishkek/Bishkek.html

http://www.virtualtourist.com/travel/Asia/Kyrgyzstan/Gorod_Bishkek/Bishkek-1268488/TravelGuide-Bishkek.html

http://www.virtualtourist.com/travel/Asia/Kyrgyzstan/Gorod_Bishkek/Bishkek-1268488/Things_To_Do-Bishkek-BR-1.html


Keep well, and see you very soon!
Please keep my mobile number available: +33 6 77 77 91 27, and Laura's too: +36 30 396 12 18


Emma & Laura

Kyrgyz turist visa information

We DO NOT need an invitation letter IF we select TOURIST VISA. Dave G has also sorted this out in Brussels via American Express.
The Geneva place will also handle visa applications for people who are EU citizens, even if they live in a different country, as I do. So if you can't find somewhere in your home city, Geneva will be okay if you are an EU citizen.
http://www.kyrgyzmission.org/html/consular_services.html
Here's information from the website:
In order to get Kyrgyz visa, you are kindly requested to present the following documents:
1. Passport (original) which should be valid not less than for three months after the closing day of the requested visa;
2. Two fully completed and signed visa application forms in English (download in PDF format) or in French
3. Two passport size photos;
4. Self addressed and prepaid envelope, registered post only; (Emma's note: add extra €10 note to cover postage if it's to be sent outside of Switzerland; don't worry about the stamps)
5. A confirmation paper of the amount paid according to the established tariffs (original or copy of the bank receipt). (Emma's note: this is more complex as it's a transfer to a Swiss account, but it's simply proof of payment; presumably this has to go through before you send in the forms, so you can start on this piece now, AND get your photos done if you don't have them).
Please, make a bank transfer, do not send us cash by post!
Bank transfer should quote your name, organization and the reference "Kyrgyz visa" and should be made to:
Bank address: UBS SA, Place du Petit Saconnex 11, 1209 Genève, Suisse
Account name: Permanent Mission of the Kyrgyz Republic
Account number: № 793.423.00 Q
Clearing number: 240
No CP: 80-2-2
SWIFT: UBSWCHZH12A
IBAN: CH35 0024 0240 7934 2300 Q
You are kindly requested to send your documents by registered post only!
Emma's note: Prices are basically 100 CHF (about €65) per person for a visa lasting up to 1 month. Turnaround time 5 days. It's 150 CHF (about €100) if you want 24 hour turnaround.

Address and phone details
Embassy of the Kyrgyz Republic Consular Section
Rue du Lac 4-6, 1st floor
1207 Geneva, Switzerland
Tel: + 41 22 707 92 20 and +41 22 707 92 22; Fax: + 41 22 707 92 21
E-mail: kyrgyzmission@bluewin.ch
Official hours from Monday to Tuesday, from Thursday to Friday: 09.30 AM - 12.00 AM

If you need any additional information, please, do not hesitate to call to +41 22 707 92 22, + 41 76 323 37 37 and ask Mrs. Madina Karabaeva, the Consular Officer of our Embassy. Emma's note - I called this number after 12 noon and was helped immediately.

HFH Kyrgyzstan Gift Giving Policy
We do not expect any gifts because the labour volunteers donating to us on site is already a
big gift in itself for which we are always grateful. Still many people make gifts to families,
translators they work with or even staff. It is nice to get a gift and to give a gift, but sometimes there could be some situations when people feel uncomfortable and even confusion. To avoid such situations we offer the following.

1. If Global Village members are inspired to give something, we encourage the kinds of gifts that can be given to the entire community, so that all can enjoy them. Ideas for such gifts include: books for the library, sports equipment for the high schools, or playground equipment. These send a clear message that all the families are valued.

2. If you want to make a gift to Habitat affiliate in providing more houses to people in need, please consider to make a donation in cash in the first place. This will be powerful contribution to the entire community allowing the affiliate get necessary construction materials and tools. Also as the affiliate buy them regularly we have special discounts in market places, so it will be cheaper for an affiliate rather then if you buy those yourself.

3. During construction, working with one family for certain time you may decide to present them window frames or a bath tub to show your special attitude to them. That is great! Yet you should be aware that these things will be considered as you made the donation to the affiliate not to the family. The cost of the frames or tub will be included in the cost of the house that the family will repay then. This is because of Habitat principle: „Payments from one house should be enough to build another house”. In this way we can help more people.

4. If teams want to make small individual presents to families they are encouraged to bring little toys, books/color-books, crayons, toothbrushes for children etc. For parents, translators you may think of small soveniours from your place, caps or books. We request team members to give these gifts only when they visit the families, so that we don’t give way to envy and quarelling between partner families when they compare their gifts.

5.Teams are asked to leave all gifts of tools, work clothes with the affiliate staff at the onstruction site.

6. Team members are asked to consult the affiliate staff if they would like to leave behind some personal items (eg. clothing, books, towels etc.) - usually they are collected on the last day at the hotel and taken to the contruction site for the homeowners to pick up according to their needs.

7. In case of a team member being approached and asked for something by a homeowner or a volunteer we advise to consult the affiliate staff before making a decision.

Habitat for Humanity Kyrgyzstan
Newsletter 3 – May 2007

Dear all

This is a MASSIVE MISSIVE!

I hope everyone's doing well! Our trip is now less than 2 months away, and time will pass quickly. I'm very excited about it, as I know many of you are; though I am also somewhat in awe of you all entrusting a good bit of your annual leave and hard-earned money with me. I so appreciate your commitment to this project and adventure and am sure that we will all learn a good deal as well as have fun. (I might just let you know now that Laura is trying to entice me into a trip to Tajikistan next year - a Women's Build. Anyone interested? Or know anyone who might be?)

In this newsletter I will have a number of requests for action from you, and I'll also provide you with a good bit of information about the trip (incl attachments). Please write back with questions you have, and Laura and I will do our best to answer them. I hope the information is manageable. I will do my best to make things clear, but it might simply be best to print everything off and head off for a caffe latte/glass of wine and wade through it. (If you have an assistant you would like me to send info to as well who can keep you on track, please let me know their name).

Information from me includes:
The team
People's travel arrangements (the info we have to date)
Information on visas (still incomplete - PLEASE PAY SPECIAL ATTENTION TO THIS PIECE)
Trip outline (still rough and ready)
Life in Barskoon (from an American woman who was there a year ago)
When and where to pay the balance due ("in-country expenses")
Sample packing list
Useful phrases in Russian and Kyrgyz
Our Blog page

Requests for action from you include:
Visa research and possible action
Who you want to share sleeping facilities with, where there's a choice
Pen-sketch on who you are, etc, to share with other members of the team
Info on any construction and language skills you might have
Questions you have

THE TEAM
The team is looking more or less fully formed (and a good size!). It's Mum, Dad, Laura, Francesca, Massimo, Teresa, Peter, Dave, Joanne, Joy, Jen, Mike and me for sure. In addition, people I am still hoping will join us are Jeanne, Anne, and Megan. Please come!

TRAVEL ARRANGEMENTS
It seems that most people are taking the Istanbul-Bishkek flight on Friday 13th July at 19h10, arriving Saturday morning 3h10. To my knowledge, mum, dad, Laura, Dave, Francesca, Massimo, Joanne, Jenny, Mike and I are on this flight. Is this correct?

Coming via Moscow are Peter and Teresa (arriving Sunday 15th morning in Bishkek), and Joy (arriving Saturday 14th morning in Bishkek).

In terms of returning, most of us will be leaving Bishkek early in the morning on Sunday 22nd July, either via Istanbul or via Moscow. Jennifer, from Australia, will head off for a heavenly holiday in Egypt, and Massimo and Francesca will be staying on in Kyrgyzstan. They are arranging a fabulous trekking holiday following our build - they are welcoming other people, and you know, if we weren't leaving 3 kids at home with our aupair, I would be definitely joining that trip. Another time. Contact Massimo at massimo.meroni@personneldecisions.com if you want to be a part of this! It's amazing! The more the merrier, and the more the cheaper in terms of cost!

VISA INFORMATION - very important but still incomplete information.
I have some mother hen behaviour erupting based on actually losing some sleep about visas for each of us. When I went to Armenia it was very simple - I applied for one online with a credit card and never had to send a passport anywhere. Most others applied on landing in Yerevan (and it was cheap and relatively quick - albeit early in the dark morning).

We will each need a visa for Kyrgyzstan (except for Laura who is Romanian). One question is whether or not we need to get it beforehand, and have it in our passports before we take off (last year, British Airways used the fact that some volunteers did not have one in their passports as an excuse for not letting them on the flight - which was overbooked), or if we can rely on being able to get it on arrival. If there are any doubts, clearly it would be best to organise this in advance. It would be horrific to be turned away from boarding the flight, or sent home, because of needing a visa. Another question is whether or not we can have a group visa and organise everything for the team as a whole.

Laura and I have done some research on visas for Kyrgyzstan. Attached is a document which says which countries require visas. Unless any of us holds a diplomatic passport, we will all need a visa.

We hope to get a definitive answer this week as to whether or not we can get a group visa (if so, I will be needing passport information and possibly copies from each of you). Otherwise we will each have to receive a Letter of Invitation from the Kyrgyz authorities, inviting us to visit the country. This will be sufficient to get a visa from an embassy or consulate - BUT we might still need to turn up in person, which I realise will be highly tedious for all of us busy people. Finally, my hope is that we can all simply get one on arrival, even if early in the morning. You could last year, but we want to know 100% for this year.

I hope to have more information on this really quickly. In the meantime, why not Google Visa Kyrgyzstan and see what you come up with. I found sites doing this for people in the US, and also one for Geneva. Please pass any information you find out to me. http://russia.russianconcept.com/services/kyrgyzstan-visa.shtml `

In the meantime, please also check that your passport is valid for at least 6 months following the end of our trip.

TRIP OUTLINE
The plan remains:
Saturday (those of us there), and Sunday morning: Bishkek, acclimatise, relax and wander around, go to a market; we have rooms booked for Friday and Saturday nights so that there's a bed available when we land
Sunday pm: travel by minibus to Barskoon (NOTE approx 6 hours... will not be comfortable!)
Monday-Wednesday am: work on site in Barskoon
Wed pm and Thursday: time off in the mountains (NOTE - now most likely a hike into the mountains rather than by horseback; stay up in "yurts" and have camp meal cooked; bring WARM CLOTHES!)
Friday and Sat am: work
Sat pm: travel back to Bishkek and stay in small hotel
Sunday am: fly back

LIFE IN BARSKOON
I spoke to a fascinating young woman named Tanya who now lives in New York and works for children in Africa with AIDS, but who previously worked for Habitat for Humanity in both Kyrgyzstan and Afghanistan (all this with a baby under the age of 1). What an interesting life she has led and with what dedication. She signs her emails with a quote from Hellen Keller: "I am only one; but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something. I will not refuse to do the something I can do". Makes you think, doesn't it? Here's what I learned when we spoke, and I have the offer to call her back with more questions, so please ask.

Barskoon is a tiny little village. About 5 minutes from Lake Issy-Kol, in which we will be able to swim (bring swimming stuff!). Very agricultural area, and horses, cows, sheep lie lazily in the roads/tracks. Backdrop to the village is the beautiful Tien Shan mountain range (high!).

Life is basic: for her team of approx 16, people were accommodated in two separate houses, and all ate together in one of the homes. Definitely a chance to live life with local Kyrgyz families. No toilets, but out-houses. "Not nasty disgusting, but still outhouses; toilet paper very rough; bring your own". No showers or running water, but they have steam baths which work just fine. Small room with a wood-burning stove which heats water to a steam. Water available to throw over yourself. Share and be intimate, or be quick and take turns. (In Bishkek there will be running water and showers, but imagine post-Soviet era okay?)

Sleeping arrangements will also be basic and informal. Probably 3-4 rooms for all of us in Barskoon. Bring ear plugs! Sleeping on padded mats of sorts - probably fairly comfortable, but not a bed. With Tanya's team, women shared one room, men another, and marrieds/couples another. I guess we can work out what works for most of us between now and then, but send me any preferences of people you'd rather share with!

Food: a lot of lamb and some beef; it will be very hard if you are vegetarian (is anyone??) Kyrgyz people were traditionally nomads, so were not around in one place long enough for crops to grow. Makes sense. You can pick out the meat in your plate without hurting the cook's feelings but your diet won't be so interesting. Lots of rice and noodles. Plov is a rice-based meal with raisins, carrots, onions and beef. Lagman is home-made noodles with vegetables. Last year for Tanya's trip, two village women did all the cooking. For breakfast, bread, home-made jams, fried eggs, some type of ham (though not ham, since as Muslims they do not eat pork), porridge of different kinds, tea, coffee. Beware of unwrapped ice and ice-cream, but packaged stuff will be fine. All of our food will be cooked with boiled water. We will get bottled water on the site (though Tanya said that Kyrgyz free-flowing water was cleanest of all, being straight off the high mountain glaciers!). And snacks will be brought out to us. My experience in Armenia was that we were forever eating and drinking tea/thick coffee/water, and chatting with sign language. It was a very sociable time and we learned a lot! Yes, I put on a kilo or two.

Alcohol: hmm... Habitat's policy is not to provide any, and it will not be available in the evenings/provided by the families. However, there's a village shop where "piva"/beer is available, and the team last year let the shop owner know how many cold beers they required at the end of the work day and it worked out just fine. Wine is also available. So we can buy our own it seems. Phew!

We can bathe/swim in the lake with normal swimming costumes - so yes it's Muslim, but we can still be indecent Westerners. Other Barskoon village women will also do this. In terms of dress, Tanya recommended that women keep shoulders covered, but short sleeves are okay. She said some Kyrgyz women would wear shoulderless clothes, even in Barskoon, but since there are practising Muslims about, and we want to feel accepted by the local community, we should go for sleeves of some kind. So Tanya's, and now my, advice is that women wear t-shirts rather than sun-tops (anyway, the sun will probably be strong). As for legs, full trousers, long shorts or "capris" probably best. Again, avoid burning. Women don't need to cover their hair (though of course a sun hat will be essential). Men get away with wearing less, but sun still very strong, so be warned!

Tampons, toilet paper, anti-diahorrea, other medication, anything else like this - bring your own for the entire trip!

Kit: will need a light rain jacket, solid boots for walking and working, and a fleece for mornings and evenings (we are high up); sun hat, sun glasses, sun cream, anti-diahorrea, water purification tablets just in case. There's a more detailed packing list attached.

Technology: cellphones will probably work (but expensive) (remember adaptor for charger). According to this website, it seems that what is used in France, Belgium, etc, works in Kyrgyzstan, but please do your own research! http://www.notebooktravel.co.uk/userguides/unielectricalkit2.htm Internet? Unlikely in Barskoon. Yes in Bishkek. (But you're on holiday, right?) No idea about Blackberries working. Polaroid camera: anyone have one? Apparently it's a great asset in the village, especially with local kids who will show you around and be fascinated with photos taken of themselves.

What to buy? Nothing really in Barskoon. But in Bishkek, there is Osh Bazaar, Central Asia's largest bazaar (rugs, carpets...)

Presents for local families: this is important. We will be highly integrated into local villagers' lives. My impression in Armenia, in a much less remote area than Barskoon, was that we were an event. We got press coverage! There is much curiosity, and I think it's important we create the best possible impression. Part of this of course is respect for their way of living, attempting the language, appropriate curiosity, etc, and part is sharing information about us, information about where we live, and providing small gifts. Some ideas include: soccer/footballs for kids, sweets, colouring books and pencils/feltpens, pencils, soaps, writing paper, writing pads, tea towels, oven gloves, postcards of where we live, photos of family/kids/friends, clock-radio, utility knife/army knife, cup or mug from where we live, etc. The idea is that we will give pressies to some of the kids, and group other presents together in bags for the families who look after us. If you can leave some kit behind (e.g., gloves for construction, work boots, jeans, other clothes in good condition), this will also probably be appreciated. We will soon know more about our host families, and that will give us more sense of their needs and appreciations.

WHEN AND WHERE TO PAY THE BALANCE DUE
I believe that most of us have paid the $350 donation to Habitat (who still needs to do this??) Now it's time to pay up the rest - the in-country costs. These amount to $650 which includes a bit of a buffer for emergencies or unforeseen things. Anything left over in our fund will be given to the affiliate rather than reimbursed.

If you are not a US citizen, please pay this on the Germany website. If you're a US citizen, then use the US one to get a statement you can use against taxes. For Germany, convert the amount into Euros (use http://www.xe.com/ucc/ to get current rates). Web links are as follows.

For US Citizens (Joanne, Dave, Joy), pay on http://www.habitat.org/cd/gv/participant/participant.aspx?pid=6562-0129, “donate online” on the right. Trip code is GV 8960.

For all of the rest of us, use https://www.hfhd.de/donate_credit_en.htm either choosing “donate online” or wire transfer to the bank account:
HABITAT FOR HUMANITY DEUTSCHLAND eV Account/ Konto Number: 1058940 01 IBAN DE41 1007 0024 0105 8940 01Routing/ BLZ Number: 100 700 24SWIFT/ BIC CODE: DEUTDEDBBERBank: Deutsche Bank PGK AG, Berlin, Deuschland
Use GV 8960 so we can track what people have paid. Please let me know when you have done this so we can do a double tracking.
NOTE: Francesca and Massimo paid €350 last time rather than $300, so just work out the difference. Teresa and Peter have one night, not two, in Bishkek on arrival, and rooms (shared) are $27 per person per night, so please just deduct $27 each. I leave you to work out the exact contributions.


SAMPLE PACKING LIST
Ask for the list created by a previous visitor to Kyrgyzstan from either me or Laura.

USEFUL PHRASES IN RUSSIAN AND KYRGYZ
I can share the list in a word document.

ACTIONS FROM YOU

Visa research - see what you find out. Share information back with me. Check your passport has 6+ months to run from end July 07. Be patient and we will let you know what we need to do.
Photocopy of passport to go to Laura - please SCAN and email so we have a copy anyway
Pay up $650 on the appropriate website
Write a short paragraph on who you are, why you want to come to Kyrgyzstan, what you want to get out of it, etc, to share with other members of the team. We don't all know each other.
Info on any construction skills you have - we don't know yet what house we will be working on, nor its state of build
Languages you speak
Your mobile phone number - in case of hiccups when in transit to Kyrgyzstan
Questions you have of me, Laura, or else of Tanya who knows Barskoon

Habitat for Humanity Kyrgyzstan
Newsletter 2 – April 2007

Hi all

I know many of you are very busy but please read this quickly if you are coming to Kyrgyzstan and haven't yet paid deposits, filled forms, or booked flights. Surprisingly enough, the recommended flight (Istanbul-Bishkek) is now booked up (in Economy) for the day we wanted (14th July) so if you wanted that, you will need to look at other options. I recommend you book flights quickly! I have now booked ours for a day earlier (details below).

Our trip to Kyrgyzstan is now just a few months away and it's starting to feel real - at least to me! I've also now had my 40th birthday (if you remember, this trip was my excuse for a party), and survived. Not too many extra wrinkles noticed at this stage, but you know, my eyesight has been poor since I was nine years old. However, I did go swimming a few days ago and can still do tumble-turns at the end of most lengths, so things could be worse!

Some of you are ahead of me in preparing for our trip, with donations made, flights booked, etc. Mike and I have now finally filled out our forms, paid the donation deposit ($350 each), and booked flights. Some of you haven't yet confirmed one way or the other. Right now, I am still counting on:

Dave G, Teresa H, Peter M, Joanne P, Francesca A, Massimo M, Jenny S, Laura F, Mum, Dad, Mike and me. I think this list is accurate - if I can help with finding flight options, please let me help. It seems the routes are busier than we had thought.

I'd love the rest of you to come too... please let me know one way or another. That's Bry, Jeanne, Sue, Anne G, Anne O, Joy, Donna, & Kathy. Kathy - I am wondering if you said no in the end, but I also remember that you might have been reconsidering, so I don't know if it's still a possibility, or a definite no. I apologise if I've forgotten a communication somewhere along the line. Bry - I will be calling you!

To ensure you're included in the trip, you need to:
make a deposit of $350 to Habitat for Humanity (this is part of a $475.65 donation we make that keeps the organisation going - i.e., ensures funds are available for interest-free mortgages in the countries in which it works, and pays its staff); use this link if you are in Europe and go to the Donate (English) box on the left; http://www.hfhd.de/. This website takes donations in Euro. If you are a US citizen and would like to be able to put your donation against taxes, go to http://www.habitat.org/cd/gv/participant/participant.aspx?pid=6562-0129 and use the “donate online” link on the right side of the page and then complete. We will need to pay the remainder later on, as well as the in-country costs. Let me and Laura Ferent (lferent@habitat.org) know when you have done this - we want to ensure we are tracking all the details, AND making sure the donation goes to the appropriate trip.
investigate and book flights. NOTE that the flight leaving Istanbul on Saturday 14th July evening, arriving Bishkek early Sunday 15th July morning, is full now in Economy. Since the early bookers (Teresa and Peter) already booked flights via Moscow, to arrive early Sunday morning, I recommend two options: 1) if you want to go via Istanbul, go on Friday 13th, arrive Saturday 14th, and kick around Bishkek for a day. 2) go via Moscow to arrive Sunday morning early. The Turkish Airlines Option is: Dep Istanbul Friday 13th July, dep 19h10, arr Bishkek approx 3am on Saturday 14th July; Return from Bishkek to Istanbul: dep Sunday 22nd July 3h10, arr 6h10. It's about €970 per person. Try www.alibabuy.com for a fascinating review of flight options available on ebookers, expedia, etc. That's what we used, and chose SNCF-Voyages.com which seems to have worked fine. For those of you arranging pre- and/or post-trips, I still recommend you book flights so we know where we are. Once you’ve booked your flight, please let us know what your flight details are so that we can proceed with the Bishkek bookings (i.e., how many rooms we need for Friday night, Saturday night, etc, on arrival and on departure).
fill out the Application/Medical Form and the Waiver Form sent in the last communication, and read the Cancellation policy. Send these to Laura Ferent (lferent@habitat.org), and copy me so I know when it's done and can minimise my nagging.
Soon (I will let you know when) we will need to pay for our "in-country" costs, which is about $600

Emma

Habitat for Humanity Kyrgyzstan
Newsletter 1 – February 2007

Hi all

You are all the people who have either expressed a strong desire, or committed to, coming to Kyrgyzstan this summer (July 2007). Or you have shown such extraordinary interest in the whole project, that we feel compelled to keeping you in the loop on what we are doing. That way, in case you are still sitting on the fence, you can decide one way or the other.

This note is for people who might well possibly perhaps come to Kyrgyzstan in July. It’s time now to start confirming one way or the other. We will still love you if you need to pull out, but we need to start planning. And that requires knowing how many people are coming.

Who’s coming and who’s not?
16 is a good number for our build. At the moment we think we are at about 11 or so. People we are counting on joining us in July are as follows:

Emma's Mum and Dad, Peter M, Teresa H, Francesca A, Massimo M, Joanne P, Dave G, Lorraine F, Mike, Laura and me. It’s rather PDI-ish and Habitat right now, all very special people. Joanne, you have mentioned bringing a friend. Is that still on? She’s more than welcome.

In addition, people who have expressed considerable interest – and we would love you to come – are: Bryony H, Jeanne N, Sue G, Rhonda G, Danette P and John T.

Those expressing mild curiosity (past or present) are: Nancy S, Damian G (and partner), Carol S, Joy H, Anne O, Donna DiM (actually, you were co-opted), Anne G, Diane M, Jennifer S, Kathy B, and Laura McK. Any of you actually planning on coming? (Would love you to, but it seems that it’s not at the top of your priority list for summer hols!).

Finally, Lynden L, Zuzana W, Nicole J, Katinka W, Jim & Cheryl J, Trisha C, Victoria T, Betsy K and Lotta H – we know you won’t be coming this time – all for good reasons like important birthdays, weddings, anything – but I said I would keep you in the loop. We will do it again some time, okay? If any of you have a burning desire to postpone the wedding and come, just let us know.

So – first come first served at this stage. We’d love to have a full complement of 16, so please let us know one way or another.

What’s the plan?
Okay, so what are we going to do? Here’s the fledgling plan (and sorry for those of you who need more detail than this. We are actually astounding ourselves with this level of advanced planning).

Saturday 14th July, fly overnight into Bishkek, capital of Kyrgyzstan; arrive early Sunday, and get to a cheap hotel we will organise
Sunday 15th July: morning, sleep in; visit Bishkek market; travel 6 hours south-east to Barskoon on the shores of the beautiful Lake Issyk-Köl (varied spelling for this, but it’s in a beautiful area with high mountains and lovely things like that)
Monday 16th and Tuesday 17th July – construction work with the family selected for us in Barskoon (more on this in future newsletters)
Wednesday 18th and half of Thursday 19th July – time off for “rest & relaxation” – probably take Kyrgyz horses up into mountains with guides, walk around, see nice views, stay overnight in a “Yurt”, be catered for by locals
Thursday 19th pm – work on the house
Friday 20th – work on the house, farewell dinner
Saturday 21st am – possible work on house, and farewell; Saturday pm – travel back to Bishkek; Saturday evening/short night – rest
Sunday 22nd am very early – fly back overnight.

This plan is not fixed in stone, but our wish to work in Barskoon (and not the capital Bishkek) is firm. Some advice I was given by a friend whose organisation does humanitarian work is “always get away from the capital”. Yes there’s poverty in Bishkek too, but they still fare better in terms of benefiting from international aid. Few international aid organisations get out into the region, and Habitat is the only aid organisation working in Barskoon.

So – do you like the sound of this? We want us to have 1½ days R&R – after all, it is holiday for us. At the same time we want us to put in a good few days’ work on the house, since we want our contribution to be felt by the family. It’s a big deal for them when a group of people turns up, and they will want to treat us well. In return, We want us to pull our weight, make them feel the contribution of having us there, and be glad that we bothered. Our experience in Armenia was that we didn’t work enough (!) so we decided that we work 4 days, not three (as in Armenia). We hope that suits you all. We can still do some fine-tuning, but let us know your wishes quickly, and if there’s a massive request for something or other, we will do our best to accommodate.

What’s it going to cost?
Sw have worked out a budget togehter with our host in Kygyzstan, Elzat. “In-country costs” come out at about $960 (Convert it quickly into Euros – it feels a lot better – approx €730!). We are certain it won’t be higher. It could well be a little lower. In addition, there are flights and visa(s) ($35 on arrival) to pay for. If you want to see a detailed budget, please ask, but basically, 40-50% of the fee is a donation to Habitat (local and global organisations); of the rest, 50% is our R&R; and the rest (frankly, very little) is accommodation, food, water, transport. Insurance is also covered.

Your place is secured for the trip once the deposit for Habitat is received. If you are sure you want to do this, please let us (Emma or Laura) know.

NOTE – Mike, Laura and I are all paying our way 100%. We figure you’d expect this, but typically Habitat and volunteers cover someone if they have organised a trip and/or raised money. We’d rather see the money in the Habitat system, and lower the costs to a manageable level for all of you.

Accommodation and life in Kyrgyzstan in general
We hope you have all “roughed it”. This is not the Conrad hotel in London. This is not a Marriott. This will be sharing basic rooms/apartments, having basic toilet and washing facilities, and eating basic, simple food. We will have bottled water, so no worries there. We will also have fabulous hosts who are so delighted with our presence you will contemplate jacking in your commercial day job and doing something to leave the world in a better place on a day to day basis, haha. But it will be basic. If that’s not okay for you, pull out now. We can all do it for a week, right, even after all those nights we spend in 3* hotels?

Info on the country
If you want to do some background reading on Kyrgyzstan, here are two useful sources:
https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/kg.html

The Lonely Planet Book (which I have bought and looked at the pictures of – lovely!) can be bought on Amazon – here’s the UK link, but use the one closest to you. Also a phrase book which we haven’t bought (yet) - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Central-Asia-Lonely-Planet-Clammer/dp/1864502967/sr=8-1/qid=1172526055/ref=pd_ka_1/202-7755299-1443804?ie=UTF8&s=books

Here are some lovely photos Emma found: http://fr.trekearth.com/gallery/Asia/Kyrgyzstan/page1.htm
Check out the site http://www.cdc.gov/travel/easteurp.htm for medical information and necessary vaccination information, and http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/cis/cis_1765.html for US travel advisory information (the US sites tend to be most conservative).
Regarding vaccinations, simply check that your Tetanus jab is up to date (you need it done every 10 years). This is just because of simple cuts that can occur on a building site. Otherwise, no vaccinations are recommended for Kyrgyzstan.

Flights

While Habitat generally recommends that people meet in a central city and fly together to the final destination (logistics, sense of security, “mother hen behaviour”, etc), we know that a number of you either want to do your own thing before and/or after our little adventure. So, all we ask is that you plan your travel so that you are in Bishkek by 9 am on Sunday 15th July at the latest, and plan to leave not before Sunday 22nd at 2 am. Before and after that, you can do what you like. Oh yes – and let us know travel itineraries (mother hen behaviour).
If you basically plan to fly in and out of Kyrgyzstan, then consider flying into Istanbul from wherever you live, and then fly on Turkish Airlines into Bishkek, dep Saturday 14th July from Istanbul (flight 1348) at 17h00, arr Bishkek 1h10 am Sunday 15th. Return flight would be dep Bishkek Sunday 22nd July (flight 1349) at 3h20 am (ouch!), arr Istanbul Sunday 22nd July at 6h20 am. Currently this flight is $630 including taxes. You’d need to get to Istanbul too of course.

Visas
Visas can be obtained on arrival ($35), or from your own country’s Kyrgyz embassy. If there isn’t one, then the Russian, and/or Kazakh embassies also do it. But it might simply be easier on arrival. For Armenia in 2005 we did it on the internet, and it cost more than on arrival. Feel free to see what you can do on this site, but it looks more pricey than $35! http://www.visatorussia.com/russianvisa.nsf/kyrgyzstan.html?OpenForm&AF=7265F56221167715C325707300475039

Next steps
Okay – what else do you want to know? Please send your wishes, and the information will be in Newsletter 2.

If you are definitely absolutely planning on coming you need to do some administrative work. Please ask for the two forms to fill out. Please complete them and fax (sorry) to Laura Ferent on +36 1 411 21 71.

We’d also like to make sure that we can prepare a newsletter that includes information on the family we will be working for, and a bit about each of us.

Thanks all!

Emma, Laura, & Mike

Let's get started!

Welcome dear friends! Even though our departure for Kyrgyzstan is still many months away, we can begin some aspects of our planning. We expect to have a full team selected by the end of 2006 and are ready to accept your applications.

We fully expect that everyone who wants to come will be able to come, even if it means having two teams. While we realise that “a lot can happen in nine months”, we do want to get some level of commitment from you as soon as possible – it helps with planning and budgeting. If you have any hesitation about coming at this stage, that’s fine – just let us know.

In the meantime, you will each receive a number of documents to review and complete. Please send them back as quickly as you can. If you “think” you are interested in this but are not sure, just let us know and we can keep you in the loop with what is going on.
This blog will help us communicate among ourselves, and answer questions and concerns. It will also help us to get to know each other better before our build in Kyrgysztan, where we will do what we can to "give a hand up, and not a hand out." We are looking forward to a great experience of building homes, hopes and dreams together!
So, what questions do you have?

Where This All Began…


We (Emma Pearson and Laura Ferent) met in July 2005 during the first International Women Build held outside the US. Our build took place in the tiny village of Aghavandzor in mountainous Southern Armenia. The picture here shows our Women Build team. Emma is in the back row on the right, wearing the blue hat, and Laura is in the front row on the far left with the white t-shirt.
The women you see are a couple of international team volunteers (sponsored by Whirlpool), some Peace Corps volunteers working in Armenia at the time, local Armenian volunteers, and local village women. The woman in red in the middle is Gohar, for whom we were building the house you see in the background. Gohar, her husband Hovhannes, and their two children, Artur (then 12) and Gayane (then 9), moved into their house in Spring 2006. They had been living in a small metal container not much longer than Emma & Mike’s kitchen, provided after the horrific Armenian Earthquake of December 1988. Their young children had never had the experience of living in a house.
Next year our plan is to build a home, and hope, for a family in Kyrgyzstan.
In support of the build, Emma took part in a long trail run/walk around part of the Mont Blanc with her husband, Mike (it was 86km, or over 50 miles in length, with 4,500m climb). They finished it in 18h38min (see the link on the right to learn more about the Trail). More than $6,000 have been donated to date by Emma's friends and colleagues! This is FABULOUS! This is well on the way to reaching our goal of sponsoring a full Habitat house in Kyrgyzstan ($7,900 is all it costs). Many thanks to all of our supporters for your amazing generosity!