World Food Programme Fighting Hunger Worldwide

In Nooruz, a New Year’s Day for Kyrgyzstan, Ainura Jumagulova, who lives in a remote Issyk-Kul village of Kyzyl-Suu, will work hard to make her festive food somewhat different from her usual bread and tea.

In Mashrap Sai, a small village in southern Kyrgyzstan, reconstructing a bridge connecting its residents to the neighbouring village has positively influenced both trade and education.  Daniyar Saryev, a father of five school-aged children, was able to safely send his children to school and also make a living.

Bolot Urbaev is a father of 10 from a small village named Toguz-Bulak. His village is in a swampy isolated corner of Issyk-Kul, which has been neglected by local authorities and relief organizations for years. Every spring Urbaev and over 2,000 other villagers nervously monitor ground water levels, which pose a constant threat to their homes and harvests.

Soaring prices are putting food out of reach for a growing section of the population in the Kyrgyz Republic in central Asia. Food staples like buckwheat and sorghum have tripled in price since June 2010. Women like Uirukan, a widowed mother of six, say they don’t know how they’ll get by if the prices don’t come down.

The air is crisp with the first winter’s frost as Gulsara describes the stomach-wrenching devastation she felt when discovering her home had been stripped bare. “They took absolutely everything, even the windows and the roof. Nothing was left,” Gulsara recalls as she stands in a queue to receive WFP food assistance outside a kindergarten in Osh.

The violence in Kyrgyzstan last month sparked an exodus of refugees into neighbouring Uzbekistan. But a smaller group of ethnic Kyrgyz fled in the opposite direction in fear of retaliation on the other side of the border. WFP is helping both communities cope in the aftermath.

As tensions ease in southern Kyrgyzstan after the outburst of ethnic violence in June, refugees from the city of Osh have largely returned. Many, however, have little to come home to, as their houses and shops were destroyed in the fighting. WFP is helping them cope by making sure they have enough to eat.

As barricades come down in the southern Kyrgyzstan city of Osh, WFP is streaming food to residents whose lives have been shattered by ethnic conflict. WFP Deputy Executive Director Amir Abdulla visited the city to get a firsthand look at the relief effort’s progress.

Many of the families which fled southern Kyrgyzstan during the recent conflict, crossing the border into Uzbekistan, are now returning. WFP's Abeer Etefa met the members of one of these families as they began the journey from the border to the city of Osh. With their home destroyed and uncertain weeks ahead, WFP's assistance will be vital.