“The development of culture and traditions are impossible without the knowing of your history.”
The history that I’m going to tell you started in the 1920s. Nowadays, very few people know about it, but I know for sure that my children and children of my children will know this history.
It is a cruel reality, but I have the only grandpa who is still alive nowadays. That’s why, I want to tell you about him. His name is Abdullah (from Arabic Abdullah means “The slave of God”, laud to Him). He was born in 1926 in Khalzhat, which is located in Uyghur region (not far from Eastern Turkistan (Xingjian)). His was the third and the youngest child in his family, which was very poor. He lost his mother in childhood. God bless her, laud to Him. His mother-in-law was a very cruel woman and did not care about them. To survive in this “Monster World” my grandpa had to do various difficult jobs. I can proudly say that he is a Jack-of-all-trades. His 17 years old elder brother Ashimzhan was playing when he broke his spine bone, after that he could not move his legs. Unfortunately, he died a few days later. God bless him, laud to Him. In 1940 Abdullah went to the army to do military service. During World War II he was in the Caucasus. In 1947 he went back to the Motherland. In 1948 his sister Khushram went with her fiancée to the Mongol Kyra (in Xingjian). And from that day they did not keep in touch.
Abdullah met his future wife Zoram, who was born in 1923. My mother says me that Zoram moma (from Uyghur “moma” means grandpa) loved us very much. She had two elder brothers and twin sister Patam (Zoram and Patam are historical names of Uyghur people). In 1940 Patam died from disease. Her elder brother Myrseyit’s last letter was from army. In this letter he writes: “My dears wait for me and I’ll be back! In a day we are going to fight against enemies, and we’ll protect your calmness.” Even after War nobody could find his body. God bless him, laud to Him. Abdullah and Zoram had two sons and four daughters. My mother – Rozagul (Rose) is youngest one. After World War II Abdullah worked on a collective farm, in school, hospital, etc. Zoram died in 1990. God bless her, laud to Him. My mother was in Almaty. She could not see Zoram moma’s last deep breath. Zoram’s brother Myrkhaydar died in that day when he was informed about death of her sister. God bless him, laud to Him. I was 4 years old. Nowadays, I still have the cradle that my Zoram moma gifted me when I was a newborn child. And I’ll gift it to my next generation…
Its common knowledge, that after rain, always behind of clouds we will see the Sun shine.
In 2008 Abdullah received a letter from Xingjian. It was from his sister Khushram. They thought that they lost each other forever in 1948. Just try to put yourself in their shoes. In childhood they shared the last piece of bread. Finally, they met each other in Mongol Kyra. I think that it was the happiest day in their life. Now, Abdullah 83 years old, and Khushram 90 years old. Both of them went through fire to water. And now, they will never lose each other like 6o years ago.
Kazakhnomad's Blog: A Westerner's View of Kazakhstan 