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| Second Book Drive Completed On December 21st we bade farewell to a twenty foot container full of books and computers destined for Tashkent. Its departure involved the efforts and goodwill of dozens of Sister City members, Tashkent high school exchange students, local area librarian s, book stores and publishers. 12,245 books and 6 computers will arrive in Tashkent after making a two month trip through Port Elizabeth, New Jersey, Rotterdam, Netherlands, Germany, Poland and Russia. This is the second book project of STSCA. The first was led by Pat Leigh in 1993. The saga of its journey is too long to describe here, but suffice to say that by April 1995 the books were current history in Tashkent. Several Sister City members met se parately in Tashkent with Rex McDonald, director of the American organization Project for Economic Reform and Development (PERDCA). PERDCA handled the receipt and distribution of our first book shipment, and Rex ethusiastically encouraged us to do it aga in. While our appetite for a second book drive wasn't strong, promises from Mercy Corps International and PERDCA to manage the shipping and distribution, made it too good and opportunity to ignore. The timely offer of 50 boxes of business related books from the UW School of Business launched the project. Nearly half of the books were collected through the persistent and determined efforts of Dr. Alec Stevens. His letter campaign and phone calls to book stores and publishers yielded generous donations from Half Price Books, Sasquatch Publishing, Adam's Ne ws, Mirriam Webster, University Book Store, Twice Sold Tales, and many others. Alec credits Kay Edwards of Kay's Bookmark with providing early advice and inspiration. The balance of the books came from local schools, libraries and private collections. UW Suzzallo Library, Seattle University, Northwest College, Seattle and King County Public Libraries were major contributors. Rick Gates and Sandi Madison of UniBook Ef fort in Bellingham deserve very special thanks for spending a Saturday delivering nearly 100 boxes of children's reading books, Rand McNally Atlases, text books, and teacher's materials. The books were gathered and stored in a spacious warehouse acquired through Robert and Pamela Miller. In two work parties a group of STSCA members and Tashkent high school exchange students sorted, counted and packed all of the books. They got the job d one and made it look easy. This shipment also included six computers, three printers and modems. Bruce Haley checked each computer to see that it worked properly and deleted donors' personal files. He also made a successful last minute plea that yielded seventeen modems. The equ ipment will be donated to PERDCA, which also provides free public access e-mail to citizens of Uzbekistan. Popularity of the service resulted in long waits for terminals. The computers will help PERDCA open new e-mail sites, expand existing sites and im prove accessibility. With the books enroute you might wonder what will happen to them nest. PERDCA has agreed to receive the books, store them and distribute them according to our recommendations. Book distribution has become one of PERDCA's majore activities. The Ministry of Higher Education provides them warehouse space in the Architecture Institute of Pachtakor and a full time staff of five. They've developed a computer tracking system to help maintain accountability and report that three arrests have been made of indi viduals selling pilfered books. Rich Hawkins, presently in Tashkent for a year of teaching English, will act as our on site representative. The entire project was completed for $300 plus $2000 for our share of the shipping. Joyce Doan raised the money with the help of a $1000 matching grant from the Aldon Bell Memorial Fund. To all who contributed to the cause, THANK YOU. Special thanks to all of the following people and organizations for their hard work and support: Alec Stevens, Joyce Doan, Joanne Young, Rich Hawkins, Dale Hawkins, Robert and Pamels Miller, Bruce Haley, Galen Mohr, Lydi Barrett, Polina Khotinenko, Anastasiqa Avdonina, Farkhad Sagatov, Avaz Umarov, Rosh Doan, Marisha Doan, Virginia Westberg, Doris Ro bertson, Maxine Van Nostrand, Louise McAllister, Lynne Cleland, Paula and Jim Quigley, David Doan, Gertude Camp, Kay Bullitt, Robert McGaha, REECAS listserver, PERDCA, Mercy Corps International, Image Control Systems, area bookstores and libraries, and ev eryone else who helped make this project possible. How's life in the Sister City? Four high school students who arrived in August, 1995 from Tashkent are adapting to Greater Seattle in their respective host families and schools. This report details some of their experiences before coming and during their first months here. Anastasia Ardonina is the youngest of the students and lives in Redmond with the Deems and Wanda Urquhart family (Phone: 881-8667). She attends Redmond High School. Her enthusiasm for her current experience colored our entire interview as she rel ated how much she likes school and other opportunities here. She noted that one big difference is the number of clubs and sports supported by the US public education system. As she put it, "You can try everthing for free;" in Tashkent a studen t pays to be in sports other than track and field. She is taking advantage of this, having played volleyball in the Fall, doing aerobics now and planning on tennis in the Spring. She is also in the German club. Making friends has been challenging, but she has several with whom she feels close. Anastasia has a six year old brother back nome with her mother and father. She occasionally communicates with them by e-mail, and her letters tend to arrive in 15- 25 days. Anastasia is interested in such things as biology and fashion design, yet she do esn't know what she will finally do after completing school. The value of this program to Anastasia is that she can see how Americans live. She's noticed that we share essentially the same problems, for example our attention to living a healthy lifestyle. Americans seem to have more fun in school, and more choice s here. She thinks it is very valuable for teenagers to experience family life, as she has come to understand different traditions. Her instant response to the very hardest thing about living here is having to wake up at 5:30 AM to take the bus to school. Language is getting easier and she finds she is dreaming about half the time in English! Farhad Sagatov, living with Helen and Stacey St. John (363-7658), is a classmate in Tashkent with Anastasia. Because their school teaches English from the second grade, the school generally has many students attempting to be accepted into US high schools through the Bradley Freedom Support Act. Nearly 2000 students were in competition, taking a three-part test and then going through interviews. After he completed this process, his papers, among others, were sent to Washington, D.C. for final sel ection. Farhad said that once he found out he was accepted, his parents and his older sister were very excited for him. Farhad is attending Ingraham High School, and generally finds school easy and enjoyable. Math and French are his most challenging subjects. He has made friends and finds his amount of homework variable. Farhad is glad school does not take all of his time so that he can focus on his other interests of Tae Kwan Do lessons four times a week, and working out at a gym four times a week. He warms up by riding his bike three miles to get to these activities! Farhad hopes to become a diplomat. I think he is well on his way, because when I asked him about the best thing so far, he could only say it has all been very exciting. And the greatest difficulty? Well, he couldn't think of any! Ekaterina (Katya) Minasova lives with Ann Teplick and Alan Munk family (783-3619). She has quite a hair-raising story to tell about getting accepted for this program. She was on her second try thinking, if nothing else, the experience of all the English testing was good. She was pleased to hear she passed all of her tests. These were sent with her papers to Washington, D.C. One day she got a call saying that she had failed to make the program and for the following two weeks she tried to concen trate on the excitement of the experience of applying. Then she received a call that informed her that she was accepted. It turns out that the first call had been a "joke" by a friend. The last six weeks of school she found it hard to concent rate on her studies. Katya goes to Ballard High School and immediately noticed that friendships didn't seem as strong among the students as one would find in Tashkent, because they hadn't been together since the first grade. But she finds going to school a joy here, largley due to the friendliness and openness of the teachers. It is in the States that she has found a real love of education. Katya studies very hard, as she is considering medicine, but come Spring will play on the tennis team. Back in Tashkent she practiced five hours a day and is sorry she can't practice year-round here and that she will not be able to formally compete sinc e foriegn students are barred from this. There are many new experiences here besides school. Katya feels very free and independent, walking to school, making many decisions on her own and generally feeling she has grown up alot. She is learning to live with a brother and sister for the first t ime. She is also learning to eat a vegetarian diet with her host family-at first quite a shock for her. She finds a McDonalds sometimes, or cooks up some meat with a friend when she needs to. Avaz Umarov lives with Jay and Susan Sasnett(784-9177). He actually qualified for coming here on his second try. He says that this opportunity was widely advertised in Tashkent, and the first requirement is to be the right age. He has a large family with a close extended family as well. As the youngest of four children, a brother and two sisters, Avaz made his family very happy and proud. He talks to them fairly often when they call. Avaz attends Franklin High School and notes immediately that having to study and communicate in Endligh all of the time is difficult. It makes forming friendships at school harder, as wellas working out problems within the host family. He immediately co mmented on the six-day school week in Tashkent and the difference of having sixteen subjects there with different subjects every day. Like Katya he is impressed with the openness fo the teachers, their warmth and willingness to give personal help and att ention. Avaz is playing soccer with a team in the Ballard neighborhood and plans to paly soccer at Franklin in the Spring. He likes to cook national dishes, play compurter games with his host brothers and is appreciative of the school help from his host Mom and sister. He would tell his friends back home that this year really gave him an opportunity to discover his own identity and skills and gain a sense of independince, besides improving his English and giving him new friends and a new family "for life". If you have an interesting family activity of opportunit to extend to the students or host families, you are encouraged to call and discuss involving any of all of them. In a short time the STSCA may ahve the opportunity to host more students. Finding families ready, willing, and able to host a student for a year is a a big task. We encourage you to consider this opportunity yourselves and talk to anyone you can think o f about this for the school year of '96-'97. Spring Trade Delegation In 1995, Seattle and the Seattle-Tashkent Sister City Association hosted Mr. Yusup Magdiev for a series of discussions regarding trade between the United States and Uzbekistan. Mr. Magdiev is the director of the North American Division of the Uzbek Minis try of Foreign Economic Development. At a meeting hosted by Seattle City Council member Jan Drago, the topic of a trade delegation was raised. It has been almost six years since the last Sister City trade delegation, and much has changed since Uzbek independence and the collapse of the Sovi et Union. Following this meeting Drago offered to lead a trade delegation to Tashkent. The Sister City Association eagerly accepted her offer, and plans for the delegation have progressed. An important part of the delegation's work will be to introduce American d elegation members to potential counterparts in Tashkent. This effort will be undertaken with the full cooperation and support of Mr. Magdiev's office. In addition, the delegation will explore opportunities now possible due to recent developments in Uzbe kistan's relations with global business communities and financial institutions. Recently, the United States has extended millions of dollars in credits to foster trade between the United States and Uzbekistan. Uzbekistan Airways has announced the purchase of three Boeing Aircraft, with the first due for delivery in 1996. Weekly air service between Tashkent and New York, via Amsterdam, was initiated by the Airway, and will soon be increased to two flights per week. In 1995, international financial institutions extended nearly USD $1 billion in low interest loans to Uzbekistan, due in large part to the relative stability of Uzbekistan's economy. Major U.S. companies have begun to establish a presence in Tashkent, as have companies from Europe and Asia. Recently the Korean firm Daewoo rolled out the first car from its new production plant in Tashkent. Toyota has opened a dealership in Tashkent, as have Volvo, Mercedes, and others. Uzbekistan's interest in developing new trade relationships has been a focus of two visits to Seattle by Mr. Fatikh Teshabaev, Uzbekistan's Ambassador to the U.S.. He expressed interest in joint ventures involving medical issues, cotton clothing producti on and packaging, and tourism. Uzbekistan is particularly interested in developing small and medium size joint ventures with foreign partners, in addition to trade with major firms. In Seattle, and American partner has recently produced and CD for the Uz bek group "Yalla". A Seattle stock broker is delivering and marketing traditional Uzbek decorative plates and ceramics. Uzbek Puppet Theater makes magic Approximately 2,000 Seattleites were transported to an Uzbek caravanserai through the magic of the Uzbek National Puppet Theater during its three week run at the Northwest Puppet Center. Their performance of "Puppet Caravan on the Great Silk Road&qu ot; featured traditional Uzbek puppetry using hand puppets, rod puppets, marionettes and shadow puppets, as well as Uzbek drumming, dancing and singing. The exuberance and energy of the performers, Alisher Mirzagiyov and Fatkhulla Khovjayev, spread to th e audiences, who joined in with clapping and dancing. Alisher and Fati did an excellent job of learning the entire English script phonetically. Backstage, Shamurat Yusupov, director of the Uzbek Puppet Theater, kept the show moving smoothly with lights and music. Special thanks to everone at Kari Sellar's house who made the troupe feel right at home, and to Kaleenka restaurant for the donation of a tasty meal. Between shows the troupe enjoyed sightseeing and, of course, every Uzbek's favorite Seattle activity- sh opping! This visit strengthened the ties and friendships between Carter Family Marionettes and our sister theater, the Uzbek Puppet Theater. We look forward to more cultural exchanges! Last Update: 2 November 2005 Logo courtesy Mamoun Sakkal |
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