Caritas Kyrgyzstan
Caritas Kyrgyzstan runs several charitable and educational projects in the fight against poverty in the mountainous, landlocked central Asian country with a predominantly Muslim population. Caritas Kyrgyzstan is a new member of Caritas Internationalis (CI), the global federation of over 160 national Catholic charities under the bishops’ conferences worldwide.
Caritas reaches out to the poor, the vulnerable and the excluded, regardless of race or religion, in order to build a more inclusive world based on justice and fraternal love.
Speaking to the Vatican’s Fides news agency, Sher Abdugapirov, deputy director of Caritas Kyrgyzstan at its Jalalabad headquarters, explained the various activities of the social and charitable arm of the Church in Kyrgyzstan.
It holds the annual summer rehabilitation camp for disabled children and their parents, with European doctors and volunteers helping participants gain new knowledge on how to raise a child with special needs. Caritas also runs poultry farms and laboratories for former alcoholics and drug addicts so they can acquire job skills.
Since 2015, Caritas has been also conducting an annual astronomy programme in southern Kyrgyzstan with about 30 teachers and more than 300 young astronomers. The top 100 students, each year, have the chance to participate in a camp in Lake Issyk Kul, where they can observe the sky and study with the help of astronomers and Polish volunteers.
Abdugapirov explained that Caritas also focuses on the education of young people from poor rural families, especially in Chui in the north and in Jalalabad in the south. The main purpose is to provide young people from poor rural families with an opportunity to enroll themselves in university, providing them a complete education. Caritas ensures they have professors, books and all the necessary material. “In the last two years, we have helped 150 young people enroll themselves in university,” Abdugapirov said.
The projects are financed by Caritas partners such as Caritas Germany, Caritas Japan, Caritas Korea and Secours Catholique. Practical support to these projects is provided by young local volunteers from parishes.
Caritas Kyrgyzstan also invites volunteers from Europe in the various projects during the summer camps. The deputy director of Caritas Kyrgyzstan said that such occasions provide opportunities for inter-religious dialogue and cooperation in a nation where Catholics are a tiny minority, numbering about 1,000 faithfuls.
In such a situation, explained Abdugapirov, “it would be practically impossible to do anything without the cooperation from representatives of other religions.” He expressed satisfaction over excellent relations with Muslims, Orthodox, Protestants and others, whose representatives actively participate in their projects.
Caritas Kyrgyzstan began in 2011 as a non-governmental organization (NGO) called “Light of Love”. While its affiliation process began in 2015, it participated in numerous workshops and training courses organized by Caritas Asia which provided it with opportunities to interact with its counterparts.
Meanwhile, the request for membership was sent to the General Secretariat of Caritas Internationalis in Rome, which most members approved. It was granted affiliation in January 2019 and was made public on May 24 in Rome during the 21st General Assembly of CI.
