Stories from Kazakhstan

South Kazakhstan floods

 3 weeks ago the Sirdariya River, which courses its way through South Kazakhstan Province, burst its banks. A combination of unseasonably cold weather, heavy snows, frozen ground and then sudden rains, overwhelmed the waterway.

62 year old ‘Granny’ Hansulu was first alerted to the impending flood by the cries of her neighbour, “Water! Water is coming!” At the time, she was seated at home with her family. It was dusk. Thankfully just enough light remained to enable her and her 12 children to hastily gather what belongings they could carry and flee to higher ground.

The deluge hit an hour or so later, devastating mud brick homes, belongings and remaining livestock. 2,400 homes in the Province were destroyed.

In the town that our team members visited a few weeks after the flood, 87 homes had been razed. 3 weeks on the ground is soaked, with low lying tracts still covered by water. The mud is thick and unstable. Walking is difficult in parts.

‘Granny’ Hansulu spoke quietly about returning home. All that remained of her house was a shattered roof resting on the ground where mud brick walls had stood.

“They want us to move to the city to start over. But we can’t. It’s our land, our home, here. How will we find jobs?  We want to start over. We will but we can’t do it alone."

Our team was there delivering 55 boxes of clothing, crockery and blankets to the affected families. Working together with the Department of Education we will also be delivering stationary and backpacks to the kids in the coming days so they can get to school again.

On returning from the distribution, one of our team reflected, “After seeing all this, perhaps the best word to describe what I saw is dry. I mean dryness in the sense that it seemed as though this flood had gone a long way to taking away the drive and the will of these people… The one oasis in this depressing landscape was the smiles of the children, which seemed to have already returned.” 

Good things come in big packages!

On a cold, cloudy autumn day last October a long red semi trailer full of donated goods pulled up to our office. Our team of volunteers stood in the early light in amazement. The size of the truck was impressive, but not unusual. The origin of the goods the truck contained, however, was anything but normal.

The truck had arrived, not from the station with a container from Hong Kong as is our usual practice, but rather from Almaty, from the offices of Exxon Mobil.  It was the first of four which were to arrive in the space of what turned out to be a very busy week.

These trucks represented the largest single donation we have ever received and a very exciting step forward for the development of CCA’s work in Kazakhstan

Exxon Mobil had contacted us some months earlier informing us that they were planning on moving out of their Almaty offices. They offered to donate the remaining goods to Crossroads. We were excited at the donation but, to be honest, a little daunted by the logistics. Given the size of our full time team, the volume of the goods and the location - a three storey office in a city 700 km from Shymkent - we didn’t know how it could work.

Explaining our situation to Exxon they again surprised us. Exxon generously offered to not only package the goods but also to truck them to our Shymkent warehouse.

Following the arrival of the goods, we have had the happy task of contacting charities across Kazakhstan and arranging for the delivery of the goods for their projects. Given the size of the donation, the potential impact is large. At this stage around 35 charities will benefit. Their activities range from therapy for kids with cerebral palsy to education of communities about environmental conservation.

EMKI General Manager Steve Rose stated, "This donation is consistent with our company’s long-term commitment to the development of local communities in countries in which we do business.  Through Crossroads we will be able to reach people in the community who may need this support."

We are hugely grateful to Exxon Mobil for this wonderful donation and are looking forward to keeping you informed as to how the distribution progresses.

Partnering for Kazakhstan's future

Education is crucial to development. For the second year in succession Crossroads has partnered with Petro Kazakhstan and the South Kazakhstan State Department of Education to place computers, furniture, equipment and books in local schools. 20 schools and 10 orphanages received a total of 50 computers, 880 calculators, 54 boxes of English language text books, 40 boxes of stationery items and 80 school desks and chairs.

The BBQ comes to Kazakhstan

The Asian Bankers and Brokers Association (ABBA) of Hong Kong loaded a container bound for Shymkent and sponsored its shipment as well! When the ABBA container arrived, three items in particular took our team’s breath away - three gleaming new BBQs. Beautiful! And, indeed, the first time we’d seen anything like them in Kazakhstan or anywhere else in Central Asia.

These BBQs have been dispatched to a couple of youth projects in Almaty, Kazakhstan’s largest city. They will be doing what BBQ’s do best – bringing people together for a great time and a great meal.

One project we love focuses on helping kids and teenagers with disabilities get out and have a great time with other kids. The Saturday club is full of energy, creativity and fun. Along with the BBQ, Crossroads sent loads of craft material, wheelchairs and a climbing wall. Since Crossroads is a bit tricky to say in Russian, to the staff and kids we’re affectionately known as Santa Claus.