Community Development Programs

Community Development within STLI operates under the principle of "teaching a man to fish." It is not providing resources - financial or material. It is not relief efforts. Rather, it is empowering residents of a particular community to help themselves.

STLI provides community development specialists in agriculture, micro-enterprise development, health education, water access, English, pre-school and computer education or other fields as needed. These expatriates participate in the training process, and encourage the newly-trained villagers to become the instruments of change in their communities.

In Terleken, for example, the village men are being taught to build ram pumps for water access, but they must provide the funds to purchase the materials ($10) and build the pumps themselves. Thus they know how to maintain and repair the new water system, and pass on their knowledge to surrounding villages with similar water needs.

Regional Focus

In Toguzbulak, a Kyrgyz village of 400 people 50km from Bishkek, the formerly nomadic people are now agricultural. STLI began a dental hygiene program for school children in 1996 (see Dental program). Subsequent training programs in community health, photography and preschool education were conducted training village personnel as teachers. STLI began a village pharmacy. The former collectivised farmers needed education in what to plant and how to market their crops, so training programs began growing sugar beets, and subsequently garlic and potatoes. Small business loans enabled farmers to begin their own enterprises in agri-business.

In Archabeshik, a village of 12,000 people near Bishkek, a preschool education center for children began recently, 4 days/week, in response to the needs of the community. Further programs are planned as needs of young families are expressed, in community health education, gardening, small business development and after school activities for children.

In Terleken, a village of the south near Osh, an STLI family living there learned that water access was a major concern of the villagers. The old Soviet pumps required electric power to pump water from the river which residents could not afford. Villagers are being taught to build an ingenious hydraulic ram pump with materials available locally at a cost of $10 per pump. The energy of the pump is provided by the rapid flow of the river. Over 10,000 liters of water per day are currently being delivered to one home as a demonstration project, and additional pumps are under construction by the villagers in this and surrounding villages. Working with village elders, other programs are being developed including: inexpensive solar fruit dryers and solar ovens, a straw compactor for fuel, teaching programs in English, computer use, health and agriculture training growing wheat and Australian gum trees for firewood.

In Kaarman, a village of 2800 people also near Osh, both Kyrgyz and Uzbek, development also focuses on helping residents identify community needs, and learn to solve problems through their own training and initiative. One problem of diarrheal illness affected an average of 8 people/day during summer months, with several infants dying each year. In 1999, training of village volunteers in diarrhea prevention measures enabled widespread teaching of mothers throughout the village. During the summer of 2000, for the first time there were no infant deaths from diarrhea. Teaching is ongoing with concurrence of village elders, emphasizing training of village development volunteers in problems of drug, tobacco and alcohol abuse, sexual promiscuity and STD's, and ethics/values based on the book of Proverbs of Solomon, whom most villagers revere.