The Alpine Fund serves youth aged between 7-20 from Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. These children and young adults are orphans, lack family support or no longer attend school.  Orphanages and other residential facilities, schools, hot lunch programs and local child protection organizations refer youth to our programs.

 

The Alpine Fund currently works with youth from Petrovka orphanage, Voenno-Antonovka orphanage and the Center of the Protection of Children (CPC) in ‘Osh’ and ‘Dordoi’ bazaars.    

 

 

Kyrgyz Youth

 

Some 37% of Kyrgyzstan’s population is under the age of 15 (UNDP). These children represent the future of the region, but they face the difficulties of growing up in a country in where the government reports that 44% of residents live below the poverty line, 11.1% in conditions of extreme poverty.

 

Youth who make it through their teenage years to become young adults enter a dismal job market. Many leave remote villages for the hope of work in the regional centers without possibility of success.  Idle time and a lack of options are compounded by the fact that drug use is on the rise and there is increasing incidence of infectious diseases, 83% of reported HIV/AIDS cases are amongst adolescents (UNICEF).

 

This situation is particularity acute for youth living in care facilities. The youth that live in state run orphanages leave at the age of 16 but are no longer given positions in a technical school as they were in Soviet times. Instead, many find themselves on the street - too young to manage on their own and without a finished high school education. Other youth are supporting families by working in street bazaars, but this type of work does not build a positive future.

 

As the number of youth without hope continues to grow the government is not able to commit the necessary resources to meet the growing demand of poor children. A variety of NGOs are doing their best to help the situation; providing street shelters, helping invalid children in villages, educating youth about HIV/AIDS. The Alpine Fund is one such organization using outdoor education to inspire children to challenge themselves and take responsibility for their own future.