Qishloq Ovozi is proud to present the fifth in a series of short films -- People of Two Lands: The Kyrgyz of Jerge-Tal -- about the Kyrgyz of northern Tajikistan filmed by my colleague from RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service Janyl Jusupjan.
This is the last in her series, but we’re looking forward to featuring Janyl’s future documentary films on Qishloq Ovozi.
In the first film we met Nooruz, a taxi driver who dreams of moving to Kyrgyzstan.
In the second film, we became acquainted with Khamid Boronov, an elderly schoolteacher who uses his spare time to gather local artifacts for a museum, to remind the people of Jerge-Tal of their common past.
In the third, we looked at how Latofat, the only female singer in her village, half-Kyrgyz, half-Tajik, made a living as the second wife of a man from another village.
In the fourth, we saw how Saifidin has fared since he decided to leave Tajikistan to escape the violence of the 1992-1997 Tajik Civil War by moving to Kyrgyzstan.
In this last film in the series we go to Tokmok, not far from Bishkek, where we are introduced to another former resident of Jerge-Tal, Tajikistan, who decided to leave and try her luck in Kyrgyzstan.
Gulnaz is a mother of three boys whose husband has left to find work in Russia. She speaks of the reasons why she departed Tajikistan, though her life so far in Kyrgyzstan has not proven to be much better.
-- Bruce Pannier
