Kyrgyzstan – Snatches of news from my Bishkek friends

April 16, 2010 · Filed under Blogroll · Tagged Bakiev, Bishkek, Koran, Kyrgyzstan, President Medvedev, Rosa Otunbaeva, Russia

You know you are reporting the truth about Kyrgyzstan events when you can’t even get certain social networking mediums to publish your blog.  You know your blog is effective in getting the word out when the powers that be shut you down temporarily. For example, I unsuccessfully tried to access an American friend’s blog, he teaches at the westernized university in Bishkek.  He earlier reported that he couldn’t access his bank account after the “revolution” and may have lost over a thousand dollars.  He claimed his bank wouldn’t give funds to people until 3-6 months from now.  He knows it is gone for good.  So today I can’t get to his blog to quote him exactly as to what he is experiencing.  Revolutions hurt everyone. However, I have two other friends I’m quoting snatches from their up close experience with the un-Tulip like revolution last week.  The following is from a dear, young Kyrgyz friend of mine.  She wrote what her Kyrgyz family went though while she was in the U.S. at the time:

“Mom is good. It was a pretty terrifying experience for them and for me being worried about them those 2 days…So, they could hear all the shootings and screaming. It was pretty scary. But things are back to normal they said. Mom was quite worried about the fear of civil war. But I am tremendously relieved to see Ms. Rosa Otunbaeva as the head. I believe in her. And today, Bakiev left the country and officially resigned! Such a relief. Now the country can start focusing on the real work on hands – development of the country economically and democratically.”

From another American friend on the ground in Bishkek what he wrote recently:

Times of crisis bring times of opportunity….Although the tragic events of the past week have brought much instability to the people of Kyrgyzstan, as well as much worry to the nations surrounding Kyrgyzstan, it has been amazing to see the opportunities which are opening up before us. 

Besides the visits to the hospitals, of which I have already written, on Tuesday we had the opportunity to join together and help clean up the city. Citizens, businesses, and government offices in Bishkek are attempting to replace glass, restore goods, and rebuild trust…

I have had several conversations with people on the street who are both hopeful and yet afraid. Will the next government be the same (i.e. greedy, dictatorial, etc.) as the previous ones? In some Kyrgyz I see more hope and healing now than I have ever seen. In other Kyrgyz people I see, as before the uprising, despondency and distrust.

Yesterday, seeing my hope for this nation, Arafat, my neighbor, was quoting the Koran to me and saying that the only thing that can deal with the nature of people (their greed and deceit) is dirt – meaning the grave.

Last night I had the opportunity to talk for three hours with an official in the new government. He is advisor to one of the three main opposition leaders. It was amazing to hear of his hope for his nation as we talked about the problems of security, corruption, the rule of law, and society as a whole. There exist possibilities now which, up until this time, have never existed before. Will it be a short romance with idealism or will things stabilize enough in this country for these ideas to become a reality?

 I guess President Medvedev in Russia keeps focusing on the present instability which exists in Kyrgyzstan and warning of the possibility of civil war. Perhaps certain international players would benefit from a civil war here (since then Russia would have a reason to come in and put in their own puppet government)…