Social village in Kyrgyzstan gives helping hand to the needy

Manas Social Village celebrates its 15th anniversary – Kabar

Bishkek: Tributes have been pouring in for a social village in Kyrgyzstan that has been, despite formidable challenges, caring for people with disabilities for 15 years, assisting them to return to full life.

Social Village Manas, 60 km from the capital Bishkek, was established in 2004 as an NGO to create and establish conditions for people with disabilities and invalids on the “Family Type” model. In 2006 local authorities provided Manas with land plots for construction and farming.

“You have taught them, prepared for public life, made a big contribution to making them believe in themselves and be strong in spirit,” Kyrgyzstan President Sooronbay Jeenbekov said

“The social village Manas, which is set up for people with disabilities (PWD), where conditions were created for their development, is the largest public association.”

Jeenbekov added that the teachers of the village have demonstrated that they are preparing people with disabilities to integrate into society.

“They help them not only learn the specialty, but also enjoy their work and take their rightful place in society. For 15 years, the social village has managed to learn how to live independently. I thank you for each recovered child who flew out of your nest,” the president thanked in a congratulatory letter,” the president said, quoted by the local news agency Kabar.

First Deputy Chief of President’s Office of Kyrgyzstan Almaz Kenenbaev who conveyed the president’s congratulations said that “by the end of last year, additional benefits began to be given not only to children, but also to those parents and mothers who look after children with disabilities.”

Manas was founded by Gulbarchyn Takyrbasheva, an employee of the Umut-Nadezhda, a rehabilitation center for students with severe and multiple disabilities in Bishkek, who is herself visually impaired.

The main mission of the village is to return PWDs to a full life and the creation of joint farms, as well as working conditions.

Manas is the central work of Kyrgyz literature. It is considerably longer than the Odyssey. Orally handed over and refined for about 1,000 years, it sings the deeds of the mythological hero Manas and his companions who, in the 10^th century in the struggle with neighboring Uyghur, preserved Kyrgyz freedom.

Parts of the epic are often recited by the Manastschis on festive occasions. Even residents of the social village Manas present parts of the Manas epic on special occasions, the social village posted on its website

They are usually accompanied by one or more “Komus”, a three-sided, mandolin-like plucked instrument, which is very virtuously handled by the musicians.

According to the website, the residents of the social village Manas come from the children’s rehabilitation center, from state children’s homes or homes for adult persons with disabilities. Some are brought by their families, others by people from their immediate vicinity. The paths they take into the social village Manas are therefore very individual.

Some stay for short periods while others have been for very long in the social village Manas and do not want to go anywhere else.

Some develop very well, and learn to be independently in domestic work, and can go back home to live with their families and work to contribute to the family income.