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Alpine Fund Alpine Update

April & May 2003

Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republic

This is cram-packed Alpine Update issue is a double issue for April and May 2003.  A lot is happening fast with the Alpine Fund this spring including exciting evolution with the Youth Guides business education project, the Alpine Zone Guidebook, the arrival of two new volunteers Marga and Josh, Peace Corps Volunteer Ryan moving to the Alpine Fund for full time work, acquisition of the new Alpine Base Camp Education Center, and much more.  The Alpine Fund invites you to peruse this double edition Alpine Update and keep informed at www.alpinefund.org on weekly updates to the instructional Youth Guide excursions and everything else.  The Alpine Fund looks forward to feedback and, always, to hear from travelers coming through Kyrgyzstan.

THIS MONTHS ARTICLES

THE ALPINE BASE CAMP/LEARNING CENTER

The Alpine Fund is very happy to announce the opening of a mountain camp for kids and climbers near the gate of Ala Archa National Park.

“YOUTH GUIDES” GUIDING & YOUNG GUIDE TRAINING PROGRAM -

Major evolution is happening with the new “Youth Guides” program, a local public rock and trek guide business.

FROM MAYA AND SALAVAT

Hello from Maya and Salavat, two of our youth guides and English students from Voenna Antonovka

DAY FOR THE PROTECTION OF CHILDREN

Garth Willis, president of the Alpine Fund, describes how he spent this June 1st holiday at the Uch Korgon children's home in the Batken oblast of Kyrgyzstan.  

“ALPINE ZONE” KYRGYZ REPUBLIC GUIDEBOOK  -

The Alpine Zone’s Free Kyrgyz Republic Guidebook is under rapid development.

RYAN SCHUCHARD, FULL-TIME PEACE CORPS VOLUNTEER

Ryan joins the alpine fund as a full-time employee

THE ALPINE FUND WELCOMES MARGA LEDO & JOSH FORGOTSON -

One of the Alpine Fund’s keys to success are skilled, educated volunteers.

SOME WORDS FROM MARGA

Marga writes of English classes, touring the botanical garden, the graduation ceremony at the Voenna Antonovka Children's home and the Alpine Fund Earth Day clean up of a park

OX HEADS AND FLOWER BEDS

Volunteer Josh Forgotson’s first week impressions on the country, culture and eating vegan

KYRGYZ REPUBLIC NEWS

Observations from our staff of news from here

THIS MONTHS ARTICLES

THE ALPINE BASE CAMP/LEARNING CENTER

The Alpine Fund is very happy to announce the opening of a mountain camp for kids and climbers near the gate of Ala Archa National Park. This is a small two room cabin with a veranda, sauna, and yard for tents and a campfire. We will spend the month of June fixing up the inside where much small repair is needed  as well as cleaning the yard and putting up a fence. This cabin will be the future home of most of our youth programs, from this cabin we can hike up to the peak Comsomolsk at height of 4200m, or go further into Ala Archa National Park up to high mountain glaciers, and climb on the dramatic cliffs.

For the Alpine Fund this is an important development, we have a place in the mountains that we can call home, where we can bring our kids and guests, where we can already have in place camp materials and education materials. We look forward to creating orientation courses, having the youth make maps of the area, learning all the flora and fauna, going on night hikes, playing guitar around the fire, looking at the stars. For us it is a dream come true, and for our youth it is a chance to spend more time in the mountains and participate in better and better programs.

We will be holding a fundraising dinner in Bishkek on the 29th of June to help us raise money for supplies and repairs to the cabin, please contact us for more information.

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“YOUTH GUIDES” GUIDING & YOUNG GUIDE TRAINING PROGRAM

Major evolution is happening with the new “Youth Guides” program, a local public rock and trek guide business giving youths paid career experience and looking to drive organizational sustainability with cyclical revenue-generation.

The Alpine Fund’s Youth Guides moved outside from the winter-months climbing wall in April and moved outside to launch the outdoor mountain guiding program.  Youth Guides and staff completed two consecutive weekends of training in climbing venues about 45 minutes outside the city near the both the Alamedin Ala-Archa Areas.  Youth Guides then led two successful weekends of climbing excursions for the public. The project is slated to lead climbs and treks every single weekend through the end of July right outside Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.

Youth Guide excursions are designed to give instructional guiding to the public for those with novice to intermediate ability and fitness at a very competitive price.  The Youth Guides mark a long-term effort for the Alpine Fund both to establish itself in the local guide business and commit to continue investing not-for-profit in the community’s social capital.  Although the local tourism industry is facing lean times, the Alpine Fund is focused to remain rooted, patient and with a long-term view.  The Youth Guides idea is a year-round commitment to the public and youth.  Please visit the www.alpinefund.org/treks for weekly updates and more information.

At the time of going to press the Youth Guides were just awarded a Peace Corps SPA (Small Project Assistance) grant for about $1000 worth of professional guide quality tents, backpacks, sleeping bags and sleeping pads.  The Youth Guides are excited about the new fleet that will soon be available for use on our treks. As you might expect youth programs take a hard toll on equipment and receiving two tents, six sleeping bags, six camping pads and six backpacks is a great help.

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DAY FOR THE PROTECTION OF CHILDREN

June 1st, the day for children in the Soviet times, is still celebrated in Kyrgyzstan. It is a day when special attention is given to children of all ages. I spent this day at the Uch Korgon Children's Home is the Batken oblast of Southern Kyrgyzstan. This children's home is the oldest in Kyrgyzstan, having just celebrated its 80th year. The home, which houses over 110 children,  is located two hours south of,  Osh, and as such is a difficult place to visit, let alone run programs. The Alpine Fund has worked there for over a year running trainings and mountain hikes.

I went to the home with the Southern office director and a volunteer of the Alpine Fund, before leaving for the home we purchased a few presents, including jump ropes, soccer balls, volley balls and school supplies. I can say that after my visit I am more committed than ever to having the Alpine Fund continue and strengthen our programs there. The home is very poor, with the cafeteria in disrepair, fresh drinking water not available, and many of the rooms did not even have light bulbs. But the kids are great and the director, who grew up in the home herself and has run the home for 30 years is stern but caring.

We arrived in the morning and when we handed out the presents we instantly had a game of volley ball started, and all the jump ropes were in use. The kids were all anxious to see me, as I was until then just someone that they knew supported the mountain programs, but they did not know my face. I think they expected me to have the typical official reaction, to say a few nice words, then leave. But when I started the volleyball and played all afternoon we were all suddenly one family.

I talked to the kids for much of the day and was touched by how much thanks they give us for the work we do there. We do not give seminars, or try to teach subjects which are not of interest, instead we really try to give them what they need most, attention and extra help. I saw how one of our volunteers ran an English class and how many of the kids have already started to learn basic English. A new language is not just a new skill, it also gives confidence that they can take on a tough task and conquer it, much the same as our mountain programs.

One youth there deserves special mention. A few years ago Oleg, 16,  lived on the streets in Bishkek before being sent to the Uch Korgon children's home. Farhod, the trainer at the Alpine Fund, took him under his wing and said to him, "I will show you how to be a man, no smoking, no drinking, study hard and then we can discover your talents." Unknown to Oleg and Farhod, Oleg is a natural artist and amazes everybody with his work. Since he has no money for materials the Alpine Fund gives him a 10 per month stipend to purchase supplies. He started by painting pictures of other pictures, then of flowers, then after a few trips to the mountains with the Alpine Fund has mastered the art of landscapes. In addition to his skills as an artist Oleg is also receiving excellent marks at school and is one of the best students of English. We look forward to seeing Oleg continue his success and will do all we can to be there for him as he gets older and faces life after the children's home.

Garth Willis.    

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“ALPINE ZONE” KYRGYZ REPUBLIC GUIDEBOOK 

The Alpine Zone’s Free Kyrgyz Republic Guidebook (www.alpinefund.org/zone) is under rapid development.  The Alpine Zone is a work in progress but already among the internet’s best sources for climbing and mountain related travel in the Kyrgyz Republic.  This past month the Alpine Zone has been loading the site with up to the minute information for Bishkek and travel advice for the country in general.  Stay tuned this summer for Alpine Zone topographical maps and much more coming on the Mountains, Bishkek and general Travel sections.

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RYAN SCHUCHARD, FULL-TIME PEACE CORPS VOLUNTEER

Ryan Schuchard arrived in the country September 2002 and started working with the Alpine Fund in December.  His “primary” Peace Corps assignment was university business teaching but he became busy instantly with the Alpine Fund with work on the Youth Guides, Alpine Zone and other projects.  Ryan began talking with the Alpine Fund about proposing full-time Peace Corps work with the organization for the duration of his Peace Corps assignment (scheduled to end December 2004).

On May 23^rd Ryan was approved by the Peace Corps to relocate assignments to the Alpine Fund.  This means Ryan is moving on board full-time with the Alpine Fund, and in exchange the Alpine Fund agrees to provide his housing expenses.  Ryan is working on a diverse range of things including further development of the Youth Guides and Alpine Zone, a formal university internship program, sponsorships and fundraising, public relations and events.  Ryan can be contacted at ryan@alpinefund.org.

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THE ALPINE FUND WELCOMES MARGA LEDO & JOSH FORGOTSON

One of the Alpine Fund’s keys to success are skilled, educated volunteers.  In April the Alpine Fund welcomed Marga Ledo, from Spain, an individual with an amazing gift for connecting with youths.  Marga has headed up teaching English at the VA children’s home in Bishkek and to the Youth Guides.  Marga has also been busy around Bishkek working with disadvantaged youths with the Children’s Protection Center (CPC) and at the local bazaars.  We are trying to talk Marga into staying thorough Christmas.

At the end of May the Alpine Fund welcomed a second volunteer, Joshua Forgotson, a US citizen who was most recently spending time in Germany.  Joshua is getting oriented and is excited to teach English at the VA Children’s home and contribute perspectives to the Alpine Zone Guidebook.  Josh is also collaborating with the Children's Protection Center and looks forward to volunteering at the Alpine Fund into August.

The Alpine Fund pushes to keep administrative expenses low in order to funnel as much cash inflow as possible to its youth programs.  Volunteers like Marga and Josh are the hallmark of the Alpine Fund’s work.  The Alpine Fund acknowledges them for their giving and urges individuals interested in volunteering to email us (info@alpinefund.org) to learn how to get involved.  The Alpine Fund is also working to develop a for-credit university internship program and asks interested undergraduate and master’s degree candidates to contact us as well.

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Marga writes of English classes, touring the botanical garden, the graduation ceremony at the Voenna Antonovka Children's home and the Alpine Fund Earth Day clean up of a park.

English Lessons

In April to celebrate Earth day we organized jointly with ACCELS students a clean up of one of the biggest parks in Bishkek. Twenty kids from the VA children’s Home, all the Alpine Fund staff and volunteers, and ACCELS students participated in this activity, more than 50 people worked together that afternoon. We were divided in four teams, each person selected a name from the animal kingdom and a little “song”. We started working, sweeping the floor and, collecting rubbish in the designated area of the park. At the beginning it did not look that dirty but once we got into the bushes there were plenty of things that should not be there, plastic bags everywhere, trash left over after picnics, many plastic and glass bottles and in many cases broken glass. We worked very hard during a few hours, the garbage bags were getting heavy and full and we were all sweating. The kids were very enthusiastic and soon started to compete with each other to see who was getting more things. We managed to collect loads of trash and disposed it the appropriated area. Afterwards we all had a well deserved lunch and drinks. The main surprise was that the administrator of the park treated us all to a free ride in some of the attractions as a way of saying thank you. We all enjoyed the ride in the merry go around, in the roller coaster and in the big fair wheel from where we saw Bishkek from the air and the beautiful mountains in the background. 

Marga Ledo    marga@indexonline.org

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OX HEADS AND FLOWER BEDS

Volunteer Josh Forgotson’s first week impressions on the country, culture and eating vegan

Lack of an indigenous vegan, or that is, strict vegetarian cuisine could not have stopped me from coming here.  As to why, consider that the past several years have seen me in Indonesia, Mexico, France and a slew (stew?) of other countries which despite their abundance of sumptuous scenery and kindling culture, have perennially failed to strike the critical mass of potentially interested diners as vegan-friendly.  Then add the fact that being a seasoned backpacker, I’m more accustomed to self-catering (the trekkers term for cooking for oneself) than treating myself to a meal out (which can in some less sanitary parts of the world easily become “cooking oneself,” a term sadly not yet within the roamer’s lingo).  Thus, with the elements of shock, dismay, and utter helplessness removed, I felt perfectly free to enter the land where the question, “Say, what here on this menu hasn’t any meat in it?” earns one the rejoinder, “Everything has meat in it,” followed immediately by the no doubt qualified to them but to me suspicious revelation that, “Meat is good for you.”  Thank you.  I didn’t no.  Can you forgive me.  For being slow.

The day after that first and last of my would-be trips to the café, Emil, another new recruit - this one, however, being from here - introduced me to the bazaar on Moscovskaya when we set out at lunchtime to give me a prefatorial look, an appetizer, if you will, at what would be my home for the next several months (and I don’t mean the bazaar, but Bishkek, in general).  And it was on just this excursion when I began to hear the expression, “chunky funky,” albeit exclusively in my own head, in reference to an implausibly enormous display of glorious-looking salads for sale.  My voyage of discovery didn’t hasten here to its demise, though what I was absorbing was enough to satisfy my curiosity for weeks to come, for also did I at this moment learn of the local ritual of insisting that you, the potential customer, sample anything and everything that took your eye.  How to Hook a Customer Without Really Expending the Energy, I suspect, was written for these salad vendors, since I can think of few other cuisines where the options are equally guaranteed to stagger and amaze the buds of taste.

We have glass noodles, mushrooms, shredded carrots, beets, cabbage, and seaweeds, some other divine thing which I believe to be eggplant, but whose exact identity I’ve thus far been unable to ascertain because of a certain language barrier, textured vegetable protein (a chewy soy product that takes on the flavor of whatever you prepare it in, just like that monster in Steven King’s Dreamcatcher, and before that, The Thing, though imaginably tastier), yuba (another “chewy soy product”), cucumbers, tofu, potatoes, kidney beans, and yet another oddity with the look of either bleached, overgrown lichen, or massively shrunken deer antlers, and a crunchy texture.  And often it is that one finds several of these items in combination with several others of them, and always marinated in a mélange of oil, vinegar, salt and fresh herbs such as parsley, coriander (what we in America call cilantro), and dill.

But why is this not an indigenous cuisine?  Because it’s Korean, not Kyrgyz, which is to say that Kyrgyz is not the only kind of food available here.  In addition to it and Korean, Turkish, Italian (or so I’m told), Chinese, and Indian food are to be found, the latter two of which are quite celebrated for their vegan options.  Therefore, if I were one to eat out, which I occasionally am, I can’t deny, it’s not as if I would have a complete dearth of options at my disposal.  On the contrary, it’s only the walking around town I do everyday, plus the energy I expend in teaching my young pupils the finer points of English in a happily active manner (with which to all the better keep their attention), and finally the stress of constantly not knowing what to say while I search my brain for the right words, or my reluctant conversational partner for a glimmer of understanding, that keeps my boyish figure intact.

I should add here, though - lest you come to believe that the autochthonal food of Kyrgyzstan leaves nothing to be sought by the non-carnivorous - that general supper fare notwithstanding, vegan-suitable substances are fresh, cheap, and bountiful, to be purchased in every bazaar and grocery in town, not to mention via the ubiquitous sidewalk vendors.  Which is not to suggest that one won’t have to walk by some bites of “painful reality” in order to arrive at such appetizing ends.  But if you’re willing to brave the occasional aggravating mountain of whole, vertically-split bull heads, as I sadly was today in the Osh bazaar, then you’ll be more than likely to find all the fruits and vegetables - fresh and seasonal, of course (importing has yet to find a market here) - dried fruits, nuts, breads, and sweets that your belly - behemoth or bitty - could ever want to bolt.

At the moment, the seemingly infinite presence of strawberries gives one the notion they must be falling from the sky.  Not the biggest fan of them, myself, though, I can only pray that apricots, which I saw, and bought, for the first time here today, will share this characteristic with their forerunners in a wee week or two.  It certainly seems to be the trend for produce in these parts, which is no surprise, really, given the fact that what one finds is whatever is growing locally.  And it’s not as if farmer Sergey’s cherries are going to ripen at a different time than farmer Fulmira’s.

That such a cornucopia would greet me here I cannot claim to have exactly known; but in truth, I kind of had a feeling it would, for warmth, rain, and dirt were all there, awaiting me in what I read was the most forested city on the planet.  And maybe it’s not so much as that, but I’ve seen no greener a home for a million, or a thousand, than this.  And if it can raise trees as lovely and countless as these, than there should be no reason why it wouldn’t follow suit, and grow this edible show. 

          Which I have here now

          Come to mow.

          Chow.

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KYRGYZ REPUBLIC NEWS

Spring began with a familiar Oregon-style warm rain, but a seemingly benign wet April soon took on the air of a pro-wrestling title-bout match between world champion Hottest-Ever-Summer and the crowd pleasing contender, Nuclear Winter.  Over the past two months Bishkek and Ala-Archa daytime temperature, precipitation and lack thereof swung from upper eighties to snow in a matter of hours.  In the last eight weeks I have witnessed one of the most amazing displays of changing continental meteorology than I have ever had the pleasure of commuting under by foot

The tourism industry saw a step forward in May with Kyrgyz Republic announcing the availability of on-demand visas (the only in Central Asia), but an unfortunate giant step backwards as the Kyrgyz Republic closed its borders with China in response to the SARS outbreak.  Other than the border closure Kyrgyz Republic is currently absolutely unaffected by the health epidemic, but the event couldn’t have come at a worse time for the economy and the tourism industry’s unearned association with political risk in the region.  Ironically, despite, and actually because of geopolitical events in Iraq, Afghanistan and China, there truly couldn’t be a better time to organize a trip to the Kyrgyz Republic.  Kyrgyz Republic remains peaceful, safe, green, mountainous and beautiful.  We look forward to answering any questions about the region or travel that we can. - Ryan

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Thanks for you interest and we hope to see you in the mountains!
 

Contact information for the Alpine Fund:

Emails:
info@alpinefund.org - For all questions and comments
zone@alpinefund.org - For mountain and tourism related questions
osh@alpinefund.org - For the office in Osh
garth@alpinefund.org - President of the Fund


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