Radio Salam continues to be on air in Batken with UNICEF support
Batken, Kyrgyzstan - June 5, 2008 “Good morning, dear listeners. This is Salam Radio.” This is how every day begins in a small comfortable studio, the only one in the region, popular and loved to an extraordinary degree by the residents of rural Batken in the far South-West of the Kyrgyz Republic. Since 2001, thanks to UNICEF, the radio station has been on the air in the most remote and poorest region of Kyrgyzstan, and is often the only source of information for the population. Over seven years, Radio Salam has broadcast more than 46,000 hours of programming, 18,000 news bulletins, realized 30 projects from various international organisations and organized 40 public events in Batken town and remote villages. And this all has been done by ten young professional journalists and thirty 12-20 year old volunteers, who feel honoured to work for the radio station. UNICEF continues to cooperate with Radio Salam currently preparing and broadcasting weekly programs on Early Child Development. Radio is convincing parents to read their children, to play with their children thus helping them to develop capacities in education and raise their potential from a very early age.
UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Paola Saluzzi is on the air But today is a special day, because there are guests in the studio from Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan, and also from Italy. Among them is fellow broadcaster, Paola Saluzzi, a famous anchorwoman in Italy and a at the same time UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador. It goes without saying that the opportunity is seized to ask the television star a few questions live on the air. Especially since Paola already has an idea of Batken – the UNICEF mission has in a few days travelled along dirt tracks throughout the region. During this time, the delegation managed to visit some of the most isolated villages and see so much that Paola can already share some impressions. How could it be possible to forget about meetings with people who are giving all their strength so that their children can live better lives, so that they have access to more information, are surrounded by love and attention from the earliest age, so that all children irrespective of the material conditions of their families have equal chances for education and development? “We’re all poor here without exception, and so it has been easier for us to come together and begin to tackle social problems,” said activists from Aykol village, sitting on the floor of an old home of the head of local administration. Five purposeful women joked – “if we‘re united, nobody will ever defeat us!” and everyone sitting around the convivial tablecloth nodded their agreement. Because is it on the initiative of these very women in this distant village, that with the support of ARIS and UNICEF a public kindergarten opened its doors recently – a dream of all community organisations in Batken, where just six per cent of children can attend pre-school establishments. How could one forgot that under a sudden snowstorm the Italian, along with staff of the UNICEF office in Bishkek, representatives of the local authorities and village activists, burnt a small fir tree in the kindergarten yard in accordance with ancient Kyrgyz tradition? How could one forget the concert that was put on for the guests by the children of Karabulak village – pre-schoolers from the “UNICEF School”, as the village school is now known by local residents? The school is named this way because UNICEF was the only organisation that gave a helping hand to the school in the most difficult times, when the roof leaked, when teachers quit because their own children were left at home without care, when people didn’t have enough money for bread, and when nobody was talking about paying to send children to kindergarten. “Our goal is that all the children in our village are given equal opportunities, so that they have a chance to escape from poverty. An illiterate person has practically no such chance,” said Gulbay Sydykov, director of the UNICEF school, and a teacher with many years of experience. And it would be impossible to forget the meetings in Karakamar village, at the southernmost edge of Batken Oblast, which the mission reached in jeeps along a river bed, so far along the clay under a blur of rain that we felt that we were surrounded by lunar craters. Where almost all the village residents met in the school to meet the guests – schoolchildren, their parents and their teachers. Where we listened to an extract of the Manas epos, performed by talented children, and where the president of the school parliament Mayramkan Junus kyzy (16) proudly told us of the achievements and plans of the children. “Lord, protect UNICEF, because they have helped us, and we want others also to receive help in these difficult times.” These poems were written by the children and read to the guests. “I’ve never met such strong people as you,” said Paola at a meeting with the school parliament and government of the “Nur” school republic. “Here, so far from the capital, you do so much for your own future and the future of your country.” “Before UNICEF came to our school we didn’t even imagine that we could make decisions the same way as adults. Now we are sure that when we grow up, the experience that we have gained in school will definitely be useful in our lives,” say the children. Paola Saluzzi spoke of all of these meetings, answering questions put by the Batken Radio Salam presenter. “It would be impossible to forget the people who we have met,” she said. “The unbelievable poverty, the unbelievable severity of life, and at the same time, the tremendous kindness and hospitality, the fantastic strength and courage – what we’ve seen here can be summarised like this,” said the UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, addressing the Batken audience on the last day of the visit of the Italian National Committee to Kyrgyzstan. For more information, please contact Olga Grebennikova, Communication Officer, UNICEF in Kyrgyzstan at ogrebennikova@unicef.org
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