Last week, I got to return for probably the last time to my favorite rayon in Kyrgyzstan, the high and remote Chong-Alay region, which is the southernmost region in Kyrgyzstan.  As the crow flies, it’s only about 65 miles southwest of Osh (a 20-minute flight in the Soviet era), but thanks to the majestic Alay mountains, the drive is 300km and takes 5 hours on a good day.    It’s remote, but as I had learned from my previous visits, it’s one of the most welcoming and hard-working places in the country.
To get there, one starts by driving due east from Osh, directly away from the rayon, then southeast across two passes, the latter at 3600m, before descending slightly to the upper end of the valley at the crossroads town of Sary-Tash.  After that, it’s a straight 100km to Daroot-Korgon, the rayon center of Chong-Alay.

The Alay valley has a single East-West road.  At the east end is the pass to China.  At the west past Daroot-Korgon is the closed Karamyk border crossing to Tajikistan.  Because of the closed border, most foreigners stop at Sary Mogul to see Peak Lenin, but almost none venture the extra 60km to Daroot-Korgon.  So, as in the past, my arrival prompted a lot of attention.

The marshrutka to Daroot-Korgon is an interesting one because there are so few foreigners that ride in it that all the drivers remember me after only one ride.  People end up gossiping about me wondering who I am and why I’m going to Chong Alay, openly, until we have a good laugh when I reveal that I speak Kyrgyz and I’ve understood everything they’ve said.  Then, as in typical Kyrgyz fashion, they are thrilled to chat and welcome me to their beautiful corner of this country.

But maybe I should rewind a bit to talk about what on earth I was doing out there in the first place.  To do that, we need to rewind all the way to December 2015, when I held my HIV Stigma Reduction Training.  By some sheer miracle, I managed to talk the regional office of the national health promotion program (the RCHP) to pay to bring in the rayon HPU (health promotion unit) leaders from across the oblast.  As it happened, a woman named Shaiyrgul (literally, laughing flower) came all the way from Chong-Alay just for this training.  Shaiyrgul is the head of the Chong-Alay HPU, and my colleagues at the RCHP told me that she was one of their best HPU leaders.  By the way, her name describes her wonderful personality PERFECTLY.

Shaiyrgul and I had a nice conversation at the event, and she invited me to come do some health trainings for her and her staff out in Daroot-Korgon.  I loved the idea, and I began to make plans in January.  But, sometimes things get in the way, so it wasn’t until May that I was able to follow up with a concrete plan.  And as luck would have it, I was headed out to Daroot-Korgon for a different event at the beginning of that month.  Maybe it wasn’t the best idea to do a day trip there, but I was able to meet with Shaiyrgul to make a plan, and the following month I returned to Daroot-Korgon for a training.  The HPU there brings in all 27 Village Health Committees that it oversees four times each year, and I managed to time my visit perfectly with one.

Well, after missing the fall meeting, and having the winter meeting canceled due to weather, it was only the spring meeting that I would be able to go to, this time armed with a health curriculum book for each school in the rayon.  I recently also helped the ministries launch this in the schools in Osh, and I was excited to be able to get the books out to what would otherwise have been one of the last rayons in the country to receive them.

So, on Wednesday, I made my way over to a parking lot under the bridge by the bazaar where three unmarked minibuses wait for passengers to reserve seats for the 300km haul out to Daroot-Korgon and every village for 50km in each direction.

The drive never ceases to amaze.  A pass at 2600m, a pass at 3600m, and finally the Alay valley, which ranges from 3000-3500m in altitude, hemmed in by mountains on both sides that rise up to over 7000m.  Peak Lenin is among these, one of the most famous mountains in the climbing community.

The marshrutka leaves Osh in the early afternoon, and doesn’t arrive in Daroot-Korgon until about sunset, so the alpineglow had started by the time I arrived.  I stopped in to check in with Shaiyrgul on our plans for the next day, and shared the books with her.  She immediately had a plan for what we should do, so we hopped into her car and drove over to the hospital, where the head doctor immediately called up the head of education for the region, who then called up the heads of pedagogy from the 17 schools, inviting them to a training the next day. I had only expected to train VHC staff, but being able to reach the teachers who would be leading the lessons too was fantastic.

After getting everything arranged, I headed over to my homestay, where I tucked in to a dinner of sheep vertebrae and plov before passing out to the crackle of the coal fire in the small stove at the foot of the bed.  It was -10 outside.

In the morning, we headed off to the office, where after two hours all of our Village Health Committee leaders had arrived.  We did our training on the books, and then headed out to the street, where unbeknownst to me, we were actually all involved in a health awareness rally.

We walked for about 1km down the main street of Daroot-Korgon to the main oblast administration, where we were applauded by the administrators for our banners advocating for awareness of tuberculosis and overall well-being.

Then, a few minutes later, a whistle blew, and suddenly the street was filled with runners sprinting from a start line about 1km away.

About 20 men participated, followed by 50 or so women of all ages and sizes.  It was fantastic to see so many people engaged in an activity that celebrates people living an active lifestyle, especially in an icy cold town at a high altitude.

At the awards ceremony, I gave brief remarks to the assembled crowd, then headed off to the hospital to deliver another training about the health books to the head teachers of all the schools.

Given the short notice, we didn’t get everyone, but more than half made the trek into the town, and Shaiyrgul and the head of education volunteered to personally carry the remaining books out to the other schools whose teachers couldn’t make it.  I was so proud to see the ownership they have of this project, as I know I left it in good hands.

After that training, we hopped back in Shaiyrgul’s car to drive over to the town school, where it just so happened that there was a massive volleyball and Toguz Korgool tournament that had drawn teams and players from across the entire region.  I played three matches of Toguz Korgool before heading back over to watch the intensely competitive volleyball.

It was an incredible day, and it feels great to know that I was able to bring such a valuable resource from the ministry to this far corner of Kyrgyzstan.  Just as the sun was going down again, it was time to head back to my homestay.

After dinner, I called to reserve my seat on the bus the next day, and at 7am, I was off to the bazaar to catch the marshrutka back to Osh.

I’m not sure when or if I’ll next make it out to Chong Alay.  But I am so grateful for my partnership with Shaiyrgul, who is doing an incredible job working to improve the health of everyone in her rayon.  I’m very lucky to have been able to work with her, even just a few times.  She’s someone who I will miss dearly when I leave Kyrgyzstan at the end of next month.