Dear Mr. and Mrs. Svitek,
As I lay back in my bed at the UVM dorms, it is hard to imagine how I might express the depth of my gratitude for the past summer and all those who made it possible. I returned from Kyrgyzstan with many important questions to consider and a deeper understanding of my cultural background. Working with Kyrgyz students was both a challenge and a great joy, for I learned much and made friends. Though all the students spoke English, I did study Kyrgyz this summer and managed to pick up enough to get around the city and buy things at the bazaar. I wish I had been able to spend more time in the area, but the time I did spend was full of meaningful adventures.
The program Nathan (the graduate student I was working with) created was twelve days in length. We spent the first night in University dorms, but the rest of the program took place in the Ala Archa National Park. It is a strikingly beautiful landscape, but watching the students form a community and a team, challenge themselves and grow was the most beautiful part of the trip. We were lucky to have only a couple miserable and cold, rainy nights - enough to remind us of nature's power and bring us together, but not so much as to be overly draining or dangerous. We went rock climbing, hiked up to the glacier Aik Cai, and climbed Uchitel, a 4,200 meter nontechnical peak. With only seven students (nearly half dropped shortly before the program started), we had a close knit team and were able to work closely with each individual.
My research on gender dynamics within the group was incredibly rich and challenging. Though I am quite nervous about writing about my findings (given the small size of the group, maintaining anonymity will be really impossible and I've never written for a paper that was actually going to be submitted for publication), it was invaluable experience, and I learned a lot about qualitative research methods.
The opportunities that allowed me to contribute to this project are truly astounding. I was supported by three different grants and managed to acquire support from a number of gear companies in the form of equipment donations. Your generous contribution covered the costs of my summer credit, which supplied my health insurance while abroad, the tshirts I designed for the students, and all the food I had to buy during project prep and recovery time in Bishkek. Thank you so much for this support!
If you want to read more about the program, I wrote a brief reflection on my blog - (sonyabugliongluck.blogspot.com) - and that has a link to an article that the American University of Central Asia published about the program. Eventually, we aim to make a video with the video we collected throughout the program. I can send you a link when it's finished if you like.
With deepest gratitude,
Sonya Buglion