26.11.2019  11.49

In Kosh-Korgon village of Akman rural district in Bazar-Korgon district Zhakshylyk and Maksat Self-Help Groups carry out their activities. These are groups of housewives and grandmothers. The elders not only guide youth, and share their experiences, but also lead them. Each group has 12 women. Each of them has different kinds of abilities and talents, and therefore they can learn from each other. They had joined the Asylzat SHGs Association. They noted that now their workload has increased and their authority is also growing.

- From 2010 onwards, we are a self-help group created from initiative women. We were taught motivation, lobbying and many other things by local specialists of the Erayim Women's Public Union. We knew that we should not be inactive after creating a group. Therefore, before the start of the group's activities, we gathered together to find out who has what talents and opportunities. Having consulted, slowly, in order, they began to realize their ideas,” says the leader of Zhakshylyk SHG Syrgabaeva Arzykan. Although she is over 70 years old, she is a very active member of the group and worthily leads it, and is very initiative. On the one hand, she is an all-rounder. According to her, she learned to weave a carpet from the age of five. Since then, she has never quit this job. In other words, she is a master of her craft.

- If I don’t take into account the small carpets, I made more than 40 big carpets. One carpet cost 50 and 100 thousand soms. Besides, I am engaged in the design of a yurt. Previously, we brought wooden yurts and completely sewed its design, then sold. In recent times, wooden yurts began to break easily due to improper assembly. Therefore, we switched to decorating yurts made of iron. The design of a yurt is not very easy to work, Arzykan Syrgabaeva continued. All members of Zhakshylyk Self-Help Group help her. One of them makes Őrmők (wide flat ropes), the other is Shyrdak (felt carpet), and the third is Kurak (patchwork rugs). They design the yoke of yurt also beautifully and peculiarly. They make yarn of mutton wool manually on “Iyik” (on a manual fixture), and various ornaments for a yurt are made of them. They also weave Shalcha (light paths made of ropes) and saddlery.

- Now, the season of weddings and toi seasons (toi - is a special ceremony held for various reasons, for example, for the birth of a son, to commemorate deceased fathers, etc.). Those who conduct the “uul toi” (celebrating the birth of a son or sons) order us saddlery. Also, we are preparing a dowry for brides, added Ibraimova Aychurok. She also leads the women's council in the village. This means that she participates in solving women's problems in the village too. So, women who joined Asylzat SHG Association set themselves many goals. They also created the Shaiyr Apalar (Singing Mothers) group. They are a busy whole day. They participate in village and district cultural events. This year they visited the blue Issyk-Kul with their songs, and also visited Osh and Batken.

- Singing is good. At first, when we had training courses conducted by specialists from Erayim, we were not very keen on this, sometimes it seemed like a boring thing. But over time, we decided to come up with the initiative to do something useful for our village; as a result, we got carried away with this and did not sit at home. We decided to make well-known our village, district with our singing to distant lands. We sewed dresses for song contests ourselves. And we have our musician. Our musician is Suranbaev Tair, who worked for more than thirty years in the house of culture and is a very well-known musician. He responds to our call at any time. He also almost chooses our songs. We have an intention to expand our repertoire with folk songs and perform before the people. Then, we would like to take part in the Shayir Apalar republican contest, says Zairova Sanavar, the group’s leader. Besides, Asel Adilova, a member of the group, opened a sewing workshop where 12 women were provided with work. Here they sew from underwear to outerwear. They accept orders from the population. “It is better to work than to sit back at home because we earn 15 thousand soms per month,” the young women said with joy. Also, some mothers in the group well-mastered farming. They grow vegetables in their gardens and on their land shares, sell them at the bazaar, and make a profit. They learned all of this from training courses. In this part, members of the group Zhumasheva Zeynep, Mamatkulova Saltanat have good experiences. As a result, they are now well-known, exemplary and proactive women. If there are some small problems in the village, they will inform the head of the village about it. If he cannot resolve the issue, they turn to the head of the municipality; however, they learned how to resolve the issues positively.

Baktykan AZHYMAMATOVA, Jalal-Abad Oblast