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Learning How to Cough Around Drug-Resistant TB
Medecins Sans Frontiers counselor, Rano Safarova, tries to teach a group of children near Vose, Tajikistan, how to stop the spread of tuberculosis in their homes. Several members of this extended family have active TB including the 66-year-old grandmother, who’s the matriarch of the clan. The youngest victim in the family is a 4-year-old boy, who’s been left partially paralyzed and unable to speak from TB meningitis.
The grandmother refuses to accept that TB spreads through the air. She insists that the 4-year-old got it from swimming in a cold river.
“I have several concerns with this family,” says MSF nurse Tina Martin during a visit to the family’s cluster of mud-walled houses in southern Tajikistan. “Mostly I’m concerned with the level of education, the lack of understanding of what TB is and how it’s transmitted. This is highly concerning. This is a very close family. They live together, eat together, sleep together. And as TB is airborne transmission the family is reinfecting each other over and over.”
MSF is working to try to improve TB treatment for children in the Central Asian nation, particularly children infected with drug-resistant strains of the bacteria.
Photos: Jason Beaubien, NPR
(via fyeahtajikistan)
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Dushanbe, Tajikistan — Tajik national heroes on the Writers’ Union building in Dushanbe: Omar Khayaam, Saadi, Firdausi, Avicena… . They are the same as the national heroes of Iran, Afghanistan and Uzbekistan. National borders are recent and artificial in this part of the world. And this is not to mention that the borders are just plain odd. My friend Larry, who’s been to more countries than anyone I know and who spends a lot of time looking at maps, explained it like this:
- Parts of Tajikistan are north, south, east and west of Kyrgyzstan
- Parts of Tajikistan are north, south, east and west of Uzbekistan
- Parts of Uzbekistan are north, south, east and west of Tajikistan
- Parts of Uzbekistan are north, south, east and west of Kyrgyzstan
- Parts of Kyrgyzstan are north, south, east and west of Uzbekistan
- Parts of Kyrgyzstan are north, south, east and west of Tajikistan
“If you go,” says Larry, “don’t forget your multiple-entry visas and a good compass.”
(via fyeahtajikistan)
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azabc asked: Hello!
Hello! :D
I didn’t expect to get an ask for my Tajikistan tumblr. How are you and how can I help you?
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Anonymous asked: Hi Caroline! This is a long-shot but I found your blog looking for farsi speakers in Tajikistan... I'll be there for about 5 months starting in January '13 b/c of my husband's work and I am trying to find a good tutor (I'm a Persian student, about high-intermediate). If you have any recommendations for a tutor I could contact around Dushanbe, it would really help! Thanks so much for your help with this random request! Catherine
Hi Catherine!
Well, looking through tumblr isn’t the best solution because it turns out that there aren’t many Tajiks on tumblr. I found maybe one during the summer, but she was from Khojand.
ANYWAYS, I would recommend the office where my program was held at Dushanbe! The American Councils office is located at 86 Tolstoy Street which is near the Ped Institut (if you as a local for where Ped Institut is, they should be able to direct you to it relatively easily). At the office, there are 3-4 teachers who work there who have fantastic knowledge of Persian as well as Tajik, Russian, and even Dari. I’m not entirely sure if they would want to tutor privately, but there’s no harm asking!
When you go there, I would particularly recommend Khurshed (I’m not sure about his last name XP) and Faridun Kamoliddinov. They are both wonderful teachers.
As for other people, I did have a peer tutor/conversation partner, but she wasn’t particularly reliable because she was also a student.
Good luck with moving in, and I hope you have a wonderful time in Tajikistan! :D If you have any other questions, feel free to send me a message!
-Caroline
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My Final Post
Well, I am back in Texas.
This past summer has been one full of ups and downs.
Almost literally when we were traveling through the Iranian tunnel which has crazy potholesXD There were moments when I wished nothing but to come back to Texas, but also times when I absolutely loved being in Tajikistan. Now that I’ve reached the end, I don’t think I would have changed a thing. This past summer has been incredible and showed me how much I could achieve if I truly wanted. Tajikistan has also been incredible! Although the food was oily, the days were boiling, and the roads were dusty…leaving Tajikistan was bittersweet. Tajikistan itself is endearing in a strange way, and I hope to return someday.For those considering studying abroad in Tajikistan, it is definitely worth the experience. Central Asia is absolutely beautiful, so if you DO study abroad in Tajikistan, try to travel to another part of Tajikistan like Panjakent, Khujand, or Chehelocheharcheshma. Of course, if you’re in Tajikistan right now, I would leave the Pamirs alone for awhile.
For those trying to decide between applying to CLS or American Council’s ERLP, know what both programs offer. Both are incredible programs, but they ARE different.
-CLS houses students in apartments, AC with host families
-CLS classes are taught at the American Institute of Iranian Studies, AC classes are taught at the Dushanbe American Councils Center
-CLS pays for everything, AC can provide a small scholarship but will not pay for everything
-AC also hires peer tutors/conversation partners that are paid to speak your target language with you for 3 hours each weekAll in all, I loved my experience in Tajikistan. I don’t know if I learned as much as if I stayed in Austin and did the Summer Language Institute, but this program was worth more than the language classes. Encountering a new culture has been incredible, and I am very happy that I chose to go.
So until next time (whenever that might be), khodahafez!
p.s. I’ll probably update this blog with other Tajikistan news every once in awhile, and I’ll upload my summer video once I finish it!
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FINISHED WITH MY FINALS
LEAVING TAJIKISTAN IN LIKE…3 DAYS
GOING TO GULI MAIDA/VARZOB AGAIN TOMORROW
WHY IS THIS ENTIRE MOMENT SO BITTERSWEET?
AND WHY DOES THIS FEEL SO WEIRD TO NOT KNOW WHAT TO DO AFTER MY TEST?
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IWPR: How Will Badakhshan Recover From Violence?
“It now seems as if a couple of days of heavy fighting have completely reversed all the positive developments in the relationship between Badakhshan and Dushanbe since the civil war. The mood among Pamiris is a mixture of disappointment, anger and indignation at how the government treats its people.”
In a more positive development, government troops are beginning to withdraw from Khorog.
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Western Tourists Are Caught in Tajik Drama
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Tajikistan: Witnesses to Fighting Speak as Negotiations Continue
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Days 56-59
Day 56 (Sunday): In the morning, my group went to visit the Ismaili Center in Dushanbe. Truthfully, it reminded me of mega-churches in Texas and California.
So…I also feel bad about this because I thought that I was allowed to take pictures of the inside of the center…but partway through the tour that I wasn’t allowed to take pictures of the inside of the center. Anyways, now I have a few pictures of the inside of the center that they didn’t really notice me take.
It was quite fun to go look around the Ismaili Center.
Day 57 (Monday): Classes. Last week!
Day 58 (Tuesday): I went to Korovon with Katie and Sarah and bought a corta for my mom and my sister. Then we went to Tsum and Sarah and other Katie bought Soviet posters.
Day 59 (Wednesday): Classes. No homework these days because we have finals this Friday. Tomorrow I’ll be going to Korovon again with Jessica b/c she hasn’t gone yet XD
Until next time, khodahafez!
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Tandurusti (Body-Correctness/Health)
This is one of my fellow student’s blog, and he wrote this fantastic entry about Tajik ideas of health…here’s a bit:
If you admit to your host-family that you aren’t feeling well, you’ll likely be diagnosed with a slew of possible roots for your illness that you never imagined. While students might blame the unwashed hands of a cook at a restaurant, their host-families are likely to ask if you’ve consumed anything colder than room temperature (despite the widely acknowledged “dangers” of ice cream, it’s still immensely popular). One student’s rash (we all called it a heat rash) was blamed on eating too much watermelon. Blood pressure is believed to fluctuate on a daily basis, and people will miss a single day of work for self-reported hypertension. Leaving the house with wet hair will usually result in a talking-to.
I’m considering writing something along the lines of this for the LAH newsletter…but I’m also tempted to write about superstitions and other differences in culture too.
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What’s going on in the mountains of Tajikistan? - Christian Bleuer
I’m not quite sure, but I’ll attempt a short analysis with what little information there is. To be honest, being here in Dushanbe is about as useful as being back in Australia. Dushanbe is very far removed from where the fighting is taking place in the mountains to the east (in the town of Khorugh and nearby). To get yourself up to speed, quickly check out these two articles (here and here).
…Click photo for article
(Source: turdinkle, via fyeahtajikistan)
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What's Really going on in Tajikistan?
This is a useful post from Eurasianet on the situation in Khorog. Internet and phone access are still cut off, and reports on civilian casualties are ranging from 6 to 100 deaths. The AP is calling it a government operation against a “rebel group”, which is pretty misleading:
(from Eurasianet)
While sources in Tajikistan have been wary of going on the record, one strongly held view is that Dushanbe had been planning an operation to eliminate four to eight militant groups in GBAO, most of which are believed to be involved in drug trafficking. Since the civil war ended in 1997, President Rakhmon has steadily pushed out opposition commanders who received positions in the UN-brokered peace agreement, but he has not confronted commanders in GBAO so directly until now.Speculation is rife that the operation is first and foremost political, to cement control in a mildly autonomous region, but also to increase leverage over the drug trade. Western diplomats have long accused senior officials throughout Tajikistan of involvement in heroin trafficking. Roughly 25 percent of Afghannarcotics pass through Central Asia each year, the majority through Tajikistan, according to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime. One of the major trafficking routes goes straight through Khorog.“The primary goal of the operation is political – to get rid of armed opponents. But the second is to consolidate the drug trade,” said the analyst in Dushanbe.
A Bit of Texas in Tajikistan
I'm a student studying abroad in Tajikistan to learn Persian for about 2 months.
Here are some of my thoughts, photos, and adventures!
Vudu Theme by David Rhyne.
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