Gulrukhsor - Khujand Women's Center

On Friday, I had the wonderful opportunity to visit the only crisis center for women in the Khujand area. It was started in 1996 by a group of business women and provides mainly a hotline service for women suffering from domestic violence plus also a womens' shelter. The office/shelter was located in an apartment complex. The office isn't big with the womens' shelter (6 beds) connected to it. What was so fantastic about the center was the peaceful, homey and secure atmosphere created for guests at the center. Workers walked around in slippers and it is a perfect place for women to go to. I have never been to any womens' centers back home but I am sure this is the exact environment it should have. They have social workers, lawyers, psychologists and doctors available through the hotline. Their main goal is to help women of domestic violence deal with the psychological trauma, understand their rights as women and to look at ways to prevent or minimize domestic violence in the family.

It must be understood that this type of service is very unusual for a place like Tajikistan and here are the reasons why:

• Rumored statistic say over 90% of women experience domestic violence but according to the brochure from this crisis center, it is over 50% who suffer from domestic violence
• This is a very male dominanted society where women are expected to be subservient so control and power belong naturally to the males in all decision areas (money, family etc.)
• It is also a very family/clan based society which usually means family problems are left to be solved by the family and not outsiders

I was quite shocked to hear that the center currently serves more than 1500 clients per year. It shows that despite the obstacles stacked in front of them, the center has gained respect from the community to continue their work in the city.

Just to really hit home the problem of domestic violence facing Tajikistan...listen to this...it is absolutely absurd and disgusts the heck out of me. I have heard that Tajik men need to show their 'manliness' to one another by boasting about how they beat their wives. Majority of men feel they need to make it known to their wives who is in control by refraining from any caring or loving gestures towards their wives. Instead many of them show their affections and romantic side to their girlfriends. Yes most married men here have girlfriends. Nope this is not a joke...

Winter (off)… Summer (on)!

They aren’t kidding when they say Tajikistan has two seasons: winter and summer. Once April came, the weather drastically improved to what they call spring (in Vancouver we call it the heat of summer!). It was like someone turned off the ‘winter’ switch and flipped on the ‘summer’ switch. There is greenness everywhere with fruit trees blossoming and agriculture in full swing. I got my first taste of fresh soft butter lettuce and spinach this week since not eating it for half a year (thanks to Beate, MEDA’s Project Field Manager who planted new sorts of vegetables not seen in Khujand in her garden). Boy was I enthused =) I’m proud to also announce that along with the warm weather so is power and water regularly provided now.

Talking about fruits & vegetables, Tajiks eat according to whatever is in season. It is starkly different from N. America where all types of fruits & veggies are found all throughout the year (thanks to globalization). The main reason is the difficulty of importing goods through the winter periods thus although we can find oranges here in the winter, they cost 12 som/kg ($3-4USD). Hence prices also fluctuate tremendously. Through MEDA’s ‘Farms to Market’ project, local farmers have begun to look at building greenhouses which allow them to start their growing season earlier and be able to supply vegetables like tomatoes and radishes into the market when the supply is relatively low so market prices will be higher than during harvesting periods. In a micro sense, for places like Tajikistan, understanding these basic market functions can provide valuable linkage to helping improving their livelihood.

Six weeks left with MEDA Tajikistan. Rob and I are booked on a flight to Istanbul on June 14 so it is very exciting to do some traveling but I am sure I will miss ‘certain’ parts of Tajikistan well after I leave this fascinating country.