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Welcome to the 5th Birthday Alpine Update! It seems like yesterday that I first
went to Voenna Antonovka Orphanage in After that day, seeing how much it meant to the kids and how easy it was to organize I decided to do more and eventually, in the fall of 2000, I opened the Alpine Fund. Since then so much has happened, treks
to the mountains, education programs, distributing humanitarian aid,
volunteer and internship programs, opening an office in
Rock
Climbing with Afghan Kids On July 30 and 31, Alpine Fund had organized rock climbing day for the Afghan kids from the American Councils exchange program. John Atwood, Chris Weaver, Ryan and Asel Akmatova helped to organize the rock climbing day.
But before this moment we had to prepare
for the rock climbing day beforehand. Ryan, John, Chris and I went to
The kids were great. I could see in their faces how difficult it was to overcome this fear and trust the rope and belayer. There was another problem when the kids reached the top, they could not lean back. They asked us to take them up and make their life easier without climbing down. But, the point of rock climbing is to climb up and down, so at the top we would support the kids and explain one by one that they should not be afraid of anything, they have to trust the belayer and the ropes and everything would be fine. At the end kids would agree to climb down and when they would reach the ground, they would see the wall and say “Wow I can’t believe that I just climbed this wall.”
Sunday morning and we are at the wall. John and I are preparing the ropes and Chris is working on the harnesses and the skit. Kids arrived at about 10 am and here is the beginning. Instead of boring instructions we prepared very interesting and entertaining skit, where Chris and John were the actors. With a big poster we explained to the kids all the commands and techniques. Example of rock climbing was shown by me and John as a belayer.
Even though all had a chance to climb, we all learned our lesson from the child that climbed without a hand. He proved to us that it does not matter what kind of problems we have, if we try hard we can solve the problems and reach our goals. It is interesting because when he was done in 10 or 15 minutes it started raining. Since the wall was wet we could not climb anymore and we had to go to the base. The last day of the climbing wall ended with rain. But we were happy that all the kids had a chance to do rock climbing, and every kid had a chance to see what he/she can accomplish. Alpine
Fun Run – once again a success On 15 October 2005 for the second year running the Alpine Fun Run took place, and once again it was a very successful and fun fundraising event. The 5km run and entertainment program (including all the exciting raffle prizes) were sponsored by several national and international sponsors and supported by around 40 local and foreign runners. The sponsorship and sale of tickets and t-shirts raised over $1000 for Alpine Fund to spend on our projects!
After drinking a lot of water and maybe a little Maksym (a local drink of wheat, which has a special taste…) donated by Shoro, it was time to start the entertainment, which especially the kids had looked forward to. The kids are all from an orphanage far from the center of town, to come into the city and be the days guests of honor was a great event for them. They not only watched the chow they particiated too, fifteen of their schoolmates performed a mix of puppet theatre and songs in Russian and Kyrgyz, a truly great performance. John and I provided the translation for Petrushka and his animal friends into English, but it has to be said that the kids were clearly better artists, somehow people laughed louder at the jokes when they were told in Russian…
The raffle was next, the event a lot of people had been waiting for and for which the majority of tickets was sold. With all the puppets and the fairy gone, the tension was mounting, as the prizes were presented by Chris – who would win the cell phone, the beautiful North Face jackets and backpack, and what about the High Tea at the Hyatt? Last minute buyer of a raffle ticket Kevin was clearly pleased with the tea time, and also Jim, our mass seller/buyer got lucky with a North Face jacket, which fitted him perfectly. The mobile phone was won by Christine, who wasn’t able to be present at the event, but later donated the phone to the Alpine Fund!!! A better ending to a fundraising event couldn’t be found….
Youth
Leadership Camp In July-August the Alpine Fund participated in Youth leadership camp that was held in Gissar, Tajikistan. The Alpine Fund and its staff were responsible for the mountain programs for the teenagers of high school ages from all over Tajikistan. Each session of the camp continued for 10 days and mountain program took two days and one night spent in the mountains.
The first group of kids who went to the mountains did a great job, we went through beautiful routes and reached waterfall. Second group went through Hoja Mahroj (3000 meters high above the sea) and passed two villages, one of the villages was mountain Hanaka and another one Arjinak, where they saw mountains covered with snow in summer time. This is what our students write about the camp and trek organized by Alpine Fund
“Everyday during the lessons we
learned new things about leadership, we played different games and sport
helped us to realize the importance working in a team. But the most luxurious
and exciting was our track to the mountains, because we faced a lot of new
things there. When we reached snowy mountains, I felt something remarkable
inside of me! I saw a real snow in summer time. "We had an Alpine Fund trainer-guider who led us and also gave us instructions and a lot of information about plants that are poisonous; and he shared his previous mountain experience as well."
That time spent in the mountains and
that night changed my mind and my outlook. I was so happy to be close to the
mountains and river and green nature, there are no words to describe it but
the thing I know is that the time changed my life. Our guide told us how
plants are important; it could be used as a medicine. He introduced us to a
nature as newcomers to the nature world. Nature has its own rules and nobody
should break it, if you break it then it hurts you, this phrase was told by
him. It was one of the happiest days in my life and I loved it very much, I
would like to go there again and again”.
“Most of all I liked getting ready
for the trek, we had huge backpacks with food, tents, sleeping bags.
Personally it was interesting for me to get acquainted with the
nature’s rules and with the instructions of out guide”. "Even if it is summer in Tajikistan, you can find mountainous regions covered with snow, everyone can be amazed with this beauty."
“It was the most splendid thing that ever happened in my life. I passed the longest road, I am not able to write it and put it in words. There were dangerous places to cross and I can honestly say that it gave me a good chance to become a better leader. As I am originally from Pamir I thought that only we have beautiful mountains there but I was mistaken, our Tajik nature is beautiful everywhere. I found Gissar Mountain beautiful so that I thought I was watching a film.” Bakhtibek, Khorog "It happened that my birthday I
celebrated in the mountains, and believe me it was unforgettable, I turned 17
years old there. This trek changed my life; I learned how to listen to the
nature music. Nature makes us closer and teaches us how to care about each
other.”
“I thank our guide and trainers
for helping and teaching us and for the great time that they have spent with
us” “This trek helped me to develop my
leadership characteristics; I thank Alpine Fund for giving us such a great
opportunity to get closer to our nature and for they have filled us with the
alpinism knowledge.”
In the morning we had porridge for
breakfast and had to go back to the main camp for the closing. On the way
back we got a lot of medical plants to take it home and tell about this
experience to somebody else. In general our trek was about 85 kilometers - 40
passed by foot and 45 drives on a car. The trek has helped lot students to
develop their leadership qualities; they have learned how to behave in
extreme situations, and left with tons of unforgettable impressions that will
stay with them their whole lives. A
special guest coming from Kyrgyzstan to Norway. (Note from the editor - In 2004 Karin Strom visited Kyrgyzstan to participate on a hike as part of the Norwegian Trekking Association (NTA) The NTA each year brings tourists to Kyrgyzstan and hires one or tow Alpine Fund Interns to go along on the trek. Last year Grisha, from Voenna Antonovka Orphanage went on the trek. Karin Storm was so impressed by him that she later provide money so the Alpine Fund could tutor and watch out for Grisha as is was his first year after leaving the orphanage. Last summer she invited him to come to Norway for a month and write about her experience with him below. Further down in the update you can read about Ulan who went with the Norwegians this year.)
He seemed to be impressed that the houses were not surrounded by high fences. The gardens are open, and people leave the cars and other things in the open. “Don’t people steel things here?” he asked. And I had to admit that yes, people steal here too, but fortunately it does not happen too often. “But where is the police?” he said. He almost did not see any police cars during his stay, and found that rather special. Norway is evidently a peaceful country compared to many other countries in the world. It was a little bit difficult to make plans for the stay. Grisha was going to stay with me for one month, and I wanted to show him a little bit of everything. But Grisha was very determined about what he liked to do and what he did not want to do. ”I can hike in the mountains at home”, he said, and I think he did not find our mountains very impressive. He did not actually see the wildest part, but he was evidently right about our mountains having no possibility of competing with the Kyrgyz mountains. But since Grisha liked very much biking, we had my old uncle’s bike repaired and had some very nice trips in the forest areas surrounding Oslo. It is an eldorado for biking. You can either go by car or by train to some place and then go biking back along nice gruelled roads in the forest where it is not allowed to go by car. And one of the days we also had a swim in one of the many lakes in the forest area. I think Grisha found it a bit cold, but he was having a good swim.
I don’t understand how people can
live so far away from the city, he said while we were passing homes out in
the country side. He thought it would be boring. We visited a market place where we were watching a show with a Norwegian music band playing Afro music, while a group of young South African girls were dancing the most inspiring dance. Grisha really enjoyed this, and even made a short film with his new web camera. And there was an historic outdoor theatre play from the viking period which I also think he enjoyed, in spite of the rain pouring down. The different tribes were fighting for power and love also during the viking period. Before Grisha arrived, I was a little bit uncertain as to how I could find program for him for a whole month. But it was no problem. Grisha liked the small town where I am living just outside Oslo. And I was a little bit worried that he would have square eyes spending so much time with my computer. But I think he liked it. He was chatting with Russian people, watching rap movies and listening to rap music. Grisha also spent some time with my son (27) who took Grisha go-carting, which he liked very much, I think. And we spent some days in our summer house in the Oslo fjord. Grisha especially liked going around in our boat, and he was also swimming in the fjord. He just jumped into the water and was shocked when he came up and had his mouth full of really salt water. And the Kyrgyz people find Issyk-Kul salty, he said, after having cleansed his mouth from a lot of salt…. And if you don’t know what a jelly –fish looks like, just ask Grisha. It is not very popular, since it burns your skin with its long threads. One of the good things in Kyrgyzstan is that there are people in the streets day and night. In Oslo there are people in the main street, but except from that, the streets are more or less empty. People spend their time at work during the day, and in the evening, most people stay at home or are outside working in their gardens or just taking a walk. Or, of course, they go shopping. Since I like cooking, I enjoyed making different dishes for Grisha. When I made pizza, he had pizza for supper and breakfast and lunch. And he had Norwegian meat balls and sausages and fish cakes. But my vegetables and my salads were not very popular Two different worlds, but we are still on the same earth. I am happy to know that, because although Grisha is far away now, it is not further than we can go visiting another year. And I also hope Grisha can see that there are good things also in Kyrgyzstan which are worth taking care of. I am happy for Grisha having the possibility to spend his time with Alpine Fund. His English has been so much better since I met Grisha in Kyrgyzstan a little bit more than one year ago and it was no problem understanding him this time. I don’t know if Grisha agrees, I think he wanted his English to be better. Which is just a question about time and exercise. When autumn and winter are knocking on
our doorsteps, I am happy to have good memories from Grisha’s stay with
me this summer. Spanish
solders, planes, kids and balloons… When we entered the gate of the orphanage without any advance notice, in a second the yard filled with kids: “ We knew that you will come today!” – they said : “and we were talking about you now and imaging that you will fly in your plane direct to the orphanage yard!”
Now we go to see kids into the building, the weather is not very nice and we cannot play outside like last time (last visit we were in the back yard, playing with balls, making train and doing crazy things, so at the end it was like a big Spanish party and we hardly could leave the orphanage at 6p.m. and Spanish even got an offer from kids to stay in the orphanage forever and play with them every day : )). We brought photos from the last visit (kids love photos sooo much) and some new CD’s for DVD. We go to the hall, where kids with movement disorder spend all their time. First 10 minutes it was calm, I introduce new Spanish to the kids. You should see these conversations – Spanish solders do not speak Russian, some of the kids cannot speak at all, but they understand each other – gestures, smiles… Suddenly someone says – we have balloons in the backpack! And here crazy party starts!!! Everybody starts inflating the colourful balloons and in a few moments the room becomes a balloon swimming pool. Kids are very happy – So many of balloons!!! Even those who cannot use hands are trying to play with balloons!
I do not know if we change something in their lives, but they change us – it’s for sure. They teach us not to be selfish, and all own problems become small and unimportant, and we become stronger – we know, there are our friends in this world who need our help. And I want to say thank you very much to
our Spanish friends, which help the kids. For me is part of my life, these
kids, but for them… they are not even kids from their country…
and despite that during already 3 years Spanish help the orphans of
Kyrgyzstan. Thank you, thank you, thank you guys!!!
The
most memorable days in my life For the second year Alpine Fund with cooperation with the Novi Nomad and Norwegian Association DNT is sending the students – future guides with a group of Norwegian tourists for a tour around Issyk-Kul. This year Yrysbek Uulu Ulan took part in this trek. Ulan studies English language at the Alpine Fund’s English Classes program. Further you will find the story written by Ulan about his trip. Everything has started from the beautiful morning, even though it was 13th. However, for me it was the best day in my life because I was heading towards the pearl of Kyrgyzstan with a group of Norwegian tourists. By the way forgot to tell you about myself. My name is Ulan and I am one year older than the Independent Kyrgyzstan. I am from Alpine Fund. With help of Alpine Fund one of my dreams came true: to see our beautiful mountains, enjoy beautiful flowers, breathe fresh air. Let’s start everything by order. The big bus with tourists left Bishkek at about 2 pm. We reached the place called Tamchy and stayed at the guest house there. In the morning after the breakfast we left to visit one of the most beautiful places in the world called “Svetlaya Polyana.” The beauty of that place amazed me. I could never have imagined that we have such places in Kyrgyzstan. Everything was so perfect seemed like it was made by hand, every little rock and little flower, pleasant sounding water and trees giving us cool shade. Now I understood why people call Kyrgyzstan a garden of God. We were walking along the route and I started introducing myself to the people around me. Time passed by so quickly so that I did not notice how we passed the waterfall and reached the Yurta base. Next day was very difficult. We had to reach the Tilety pass where it snowed a lot before. When we reached it, it was dark already and we set up a base there. Everything was beautiful there but very cold. In the morning we had only one goal, to pass along the path. When we left the base it started raining and it was cold and foggy. We thought that it is the end of the world but now the weather prepared for us another present, it started snowing. Having this kind of weather one just could not stop to enjoy the beauty surrounding us in nature, we had to move very fast so that we will pass this path and reach the place where we were supposed to have a base. To tell you the truth it was raining so heavily and we were so wet, you can not even imagine. At the base in the evening we set up a fire and we were singing and talking until the rain made us go to the tents. In the morning after the breakfast we
went to the place called Sirota (orphan). The nature was beautiful there.
After walking thru this place we reached the lake called Alakol, which is
very cold. So behind we had Tilety path, Sirota valley, Alakol Lake. After
seeing all those places we came to Altyn Arashan and where the bus was
waiting for us. In Karakol city we have visited the oldest Dungan mosque
which was built without a nail, Russian Orthodox Church. And the last
destination point was hotel Aurora. On the way to Aurora we visited the
museum for Prejevalskii. When we reached the Aurora hotel we all run to the
lake and on next day we headed towards Bishkek. A
Day at the Climbing Wall
In the beginning they were a little bit afraid, because they did not have previous experience, but after they saw how it should be done properly they were not afraid anymore. The training went well and kids were trying very hard. For them it was something new, something that they have never experienced before. I think that in the beginning they felt like they were in real extreme situation. I need to say that they have all the qualities to become a well trained climbers if we continue the trainings for the kids. It would be very nice if we could have these kinds of trainings more often than we have now. I believe that when kids go through this kind of trainings they became stronger. ****************** Thanks for reading this far - what a great time they are having - and what great work they are doing. To help us continue working with kids please consider a financial donation. Every penny goes directly to Central Asia, directly to helping the kids. And just in time for our birthday we had a couple of great birthday presents this last week. The Norwegian government has donated $5000 to help us repair the Alpine Learning Center (pictured at left) near Bishkek, and $5000 to help us build a climbing wall in Dushanbe - yahoooooo!!!! - And – The National Outdoor Leadership School gave a scholarship to an Alpine Fund intern for a rock climbing class in Wyoming. The Anatoli Boukreev Memorial Fund has agreed to provide transportation costs. 5 years of history and working with youth is a great accomplishment. I want to thank everybody that has worked with us over the years, from the staff that gives so much, to the volunteers that have given us a part of their lives, To our donors that always seem to come through for us to keep us going, and most of all a thanks to the kids for making this all worth while and making us proud of your success. While I can't thank everybody here that has helped over the years I do want to say a special thanks to staff of the past years - Alexai, Zarina, Farida, Marga among so many and now Asel and Chris. And thanks to all our sponsors without whose generous support this really would never have been possible. Again I cant list you all but special thanks to - including the Ansara, Brisson and Willis families for their ongoing support, to Lori Handerhan that has helped us from the beginning, Patagonia for all the great gear, and to Scott MacLennan for creating the Mountain Fund. And thanks to the mysterious Angel that donates each Christmas. After 10 years living in Central Asia I
am now once again back in America, pursuing a PhD degree in International
Educational and Youth Leadership at the University of Minnesota. This time in
the USA will give me a chance to further strengthen both my knowledge of
program development and youth work, and the chance to create more
partnerships with other people and organizations. But even though I am here
in the US, you will read below that the Alpine Fund continues to be strong.
Reading their stories brings it all back and makes it all worthwhile. And
makes me want to go back.............. So Happy 5th Birthday and best wishes
for the Alpine Fund!!! Thanks, |
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See you in the Mountains!
All photos on this site © Alpine Fund |
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