Contributor: Fran Rodgers

The village of Ornok sits on the touristy northern shores of Lake Issyk Kul, the so-called "The Pearl of Kyrgyzstan."

The town's one and only school sits in the shadow of fancy, private resorts built with private money that serve as a daily reminder that, in this new age of free market economy, there are "haves" and "have-nots" and that the students and their families are in the latter category.

The school was built in 1961 for 210 students and, since that time, has had no capital repair done. Due to the original poor design, the foundation did not have any ventilation. Additionally, the roof was flat and covered with soft tarpaper which is adequate for hot, dry climates but total unsuitable for Ornok's cold, snowy region.

In their proposal, which was supported by the school and a local NGO, they noted that "Because of the absence [of ventilation], the floorboards are rotten and the plaster peels off. When it is raining, the roof leaks in four classes."

The useable space had been reduced to three classrooms for the current 250 students. Since this was physically impossible, the school began operating in three shifts and even sent some of the students to study in a nearby building which had no heat whatsoever.

Of even more concern for the Mercy Corps grant committee reviewing the application was the statement that "It is very cold in winter in the classrooms. The heating furnace does not work properly. Carbon monoxide fills the rooms which is very harmful for children’s health. Children and teachers are very often sick."

The community had tried, in vain, to effect repairs. They even went as far as to lay a foundation and construct walls for an addition to the school. This was an attempt to overcome not only the disastrous problems facing the 250 students and 20 teachers but the overcrowding as well

Mercy Corps, with funds received from the monetization of USDA-donated wheat flour and vegetable oil, granted this community the requested sum of $4,420. With this, the community was able to fix the ventilation problems, install a new roof on the old portion of the school and complete the construction of the addition.

When the work was completed, the community organized an opening celebration of the "new" facility. People from five surrounding communities came to marvel and to congratulate Ornok's residents on their wonderful work. On seeing the success of this one small village working together, they all returned to their own villages with the resolve to imitate the residents of Ornok.

The children of Ornok now do not have to study in shifts. Parents and teachers do not have to worry about carbon monoxide poisoning or worry about the children becoming sick from damp and cold conditions. 250 children are now happy to be studying and would rather be doing that than anything else.

One girl approached me as I left the celebration. "Thank you," she said shyly. Her mother added, "It's nice that someone cares."

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Abdysh Asaev is an old man, well past the age of retirement. By rights, he should be sitting back and letting other people help him while he simply dispenses age-old wisdom. But Adbysh Asaev is no ordinary old man.

Born, raised and still living in Kurbuu, which is situated in eastern Kyrgyzstan close to the Chinese border, Adbysh Asaev has witnessed the slow disintegration of the town's only school because of the negligence of the former Soviet authorities.

Built in 1970 from pre-fabricated parts, the building was intended to be used only as a temporary site for educating children but time and lack of funding to replace it forced this "temporary" site to become permanent. As if to add insult to injury, there were never any funds available to do any sort of repairs and the building slowly deteriorated to the point of being hazardous for children and teachers alike.

Two years ago, the State Department on Construction ordered the town to cease holding classes in this building because it was so dangerous. The community banded together and erected a simple shell of a building and the Ministry of Emergency provided them with lumber and slate for the roof. But that was all they could do - erect the shell of a building without even the most basic of amenities such as heat or electricity.

Then came the final order from the government: either finish the work or close the school. If closed, their children would have had to walk four kilometers over muddy, barren land to attend classes in the neighboring village. This outraged Abdysh Asaev. He wanted the 250 children of Kurbuu to study in Kurbuu.

About the same time, Mercy Corps' Community Mobilizers made a presentation to this small community, describing the Global Food for Education Initiative program and the details of our small grants component. Abdysh Asaev attended this meeting and a fire was lit inside of him. He went on a virtual rampage, organizing the community and lighting a fire under them as well. Realizing that his health would not permit him to work as tirelessly on the project as he would need to or wanted to, he asked a younger man to take over the work for him - but he was never far from the action nor was there a detail about which he didn't know.

Today, because of an old man's passion for the children and the future of his village and as a result of a grant from Mercy Corps, on behalf of USDA's Global Food for Education Initiative, Kurbuu's children are studying in a warm, dry and safe building. And today, Abdysh Asaev is a temporarily happy man. Knowing him, he's probably working on more plans to improve his village and having an easier time of convincing the other residents that anything is possible if they work together.

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Klara isn't an ordinary businesswoman, but that's what we all thought she was when she started buying flour donated by the U.S Department of Agriculture in Osh, Kyrgyzstan.

The flour was being sold on the local market as part of Mercy Corps’ Global Food for Education Initiative. Proceeds from the flour sales are earmarked for such projects as school infrastructure repair, water and sanitation improvement, food security or to purchase desperately needed school supplies and equipment. Klara had other ideas.

A while ago, she had wanted to improve the lives of orphans and abandoned children in Osh and set up her own non-governmental organization. She persuaded the local government authorities to give her an abandoned building for her work. Given the state of the building, they were probably glad to get rid of it.

Along with the other members of her organization, she started buying the wheat flour donated by the USDA and selling it at a profit to other distributors and end-users. The profit she made from these sales was put into the repair of the building.

Klara could have simply written a proposal to Mercy Corps for these repairs but she didn't want to face the possibility of being turned down. Her work was too important to her and too important for the children she was trying to help.

The ramshackle building has now been restored by Klara and her staff and is now home and school to 37 orphaned and abandoned children.

With funding from USDA, Mercy Corps began the Global Food for Education program in October 2001. The program aims to improve learning conditions for students and to promote community involvement in education through the distribution of rice, vegetable oil and flour, which are being apportioned to every kindergarten and boarding school throughout Kyrgyzstan. The program reaches approximately 500 schools serving close to 60,000 students.

Additionally, Mercy Corps uses the proceeds from the sale of vegetable oil and flour to generate funds that it than distributes in the form of small grants. These grants support local educational facilities by carrying out works focusing on infrastructure repair, water and sanitation, food security and equipment and supplies. To date, Mercy Corps has funded 76 school-improvement projects in Kyrgyzstan.

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