IN a normal year, September 1 is always the first day of school in Kyrgyzstan - no matter on which day of the week it falls. This year, because of the ongoing impact of the Covid-19 virus, the start of school was delayed, starting this week on September 15. Before the big day, the school grounds are spruced up…everything is swept, walls are whitewashed, and parents prepare their children to look their best. Girls wear black skirts with white shirts or blouses and often have large hair bows in their hair. The boys wear black pants, white shirts, and a bow tie or tie. Many students come with a bouquet of flowers to give to their teacher Photo: USAID Kyrgyz Republic On...
Seeing tangible progress with the villages and shepherds in which we’ve invested so heavily is always encouraging. For example, we’ve been collecting cashmere in the Chong Alai valley since 2013, and have seen a huge shift in the process during the last 5 years. At first, the shepherds were not familiar with the process of combing goats rather than shearing. Much of the fiber was full of coarse guard hair instead of clean cashmere, and the mix of fiber quality from great to poor was more pronounced. Since then, combing has become the standard means of collecting cashmere and the majority of people are bringing in very cleanly combed fiber. Overall, we are seeing a greater consistency in the...
It is hard to believe that we are starting on our fifth cashmere collection season. The years are really beginning to blur together! I moved to Kyrgyzstan in late 2010 with my family and after a period of language learning, research, and social networking, we collected our first cashmere in the spring of 2013. At the time, people were shearing their goats and the fiber was being sold to middlemen, who in turn sold it to traders who sent it on to China. The price being paid to the shepherds was a flat rate based on weight, rather than quality. Our plan was to purchase combed fiber instead of sheared—this leaves the protective guard hair on the goat’s body while also...
Since coming back to Kyrgyzstan we have joked with our friends that we came here to rest...the two months leading up to our departure with travel and packing, while maintaining the business were some of the most full and logistically challenging that my wife and I have ever had to navigate. Thankfully the trip went fairly smoothly and our children cooperated quite well. It was such a relief to finally arrive to our house in Kyrgyzstan and know that we will be rooted here in one place for an extended period of time. It is almost a tradition that the first day back from the States there will be a water or electric problem in one's house...sure enough the very...
After five years of predominantly living in Kyrgyzstan since 2010, our family spent all of 2016 in the States as we focused on launching the June Cashmere brand. We plan to return to Kyrgyzstan in late January and as the days tick by we are increasingly cognizant of the big transition ahead of us. It takes time to truly settle in to a new place, and that process entails bumps and bruises as well as joys and victories. We are at the point now where we feel 75% at home in both places…of course America is our home and that is where our family and roots are. But we have had enough time in Kyrgyzstan to develop strong relationships and...
