2004-01-05 - 12:23 p.m.
From December 8 to December 18, I accompanied Dan Behn, a fellow PCV and Habib, a Toshkochauto truck driver, around Uzbekistan. We drove a truck filled with 9 tons of books donated from MacMillan/ McGraw-Hill to the Brother's Brother Foundation of England, who sent the shipment to Uzbekistan after an agreement with the Adventists Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) International to pay the $10,000 customs fee was secured and ADRA Uzbekistan handed over authority to Peace Corps Volunteers. KM Ibrikom, the largest cotton shipping exporter in Uzbekistan-based out of Dubai- also added their assistance by paying the trucking company for one week of service.
Now, that service was what Dan and I will remember because we pushed a ten ton truck out of mud, watched our driver thaw the engine with a tourch, and abandoned the truck on the Kizilkum Desert highway at 10:30pm in below freezing temps becuase it would not go any farther. A night at a desert teahouse refreshed us enough to catch a bus to Urgench, the nearest city to our breakdown. All in all, though, twelve regions of Uzbekistan received 20,000 books, worth almost $700,000.
Our trip was highlighted by a visit to Moynaq, a village in Karalkalpakistan, Uzbekistan. Moynaq used to be a fishing port of the Aral Sea, now it is 150 kilometers from the sea. Since the 1970's, the sea has been loosing volume and surface area, ninety percent and seventy five respectively. Soviet technology is to credit for this. The famous Central Asia rivers- the Amu and Syr Daryo's- used to empty into the Aral Sea. Now, niether do. This is because of irrigation methods used here in Uzbekistan. For instance, on our two hour drive to Moynaq, from Nukus, I noticed something very odd for the desert. Rice paddies. In the desert. In a place famous for having the worst ecological disaster in the world. In a region known for poor water and limited water, aquaducts are still drawn to grow rice. And of course in the other palces of this country this water is used to build up and sustain the cotton industry. These are the starkest examples of the dire need for critical thinking skills in the former Soviet republics.
Health is also a concern in Moynaq. A recent BBC exclusive declared this village to have the highest rate of anemia in the world. TB and infant mortality are also grave concerns. And in the middle of December, as Dan and I climbed the decaying boats (we came here to see the ship graveyard), we could only think of saddness. Not so gloomy, more quiet. Quiet like a ghost town perhaps.
A new book by a PCV from Uzbekistan, Tom Bissell, called Chasing the Sea chronicles the history of this region. I think this book would help paint a clear picture of service and Cnetral Asia to those who choose to read it.
