The NGO "Babushka Adoption Project" (BAP) was established in July 1999 with the help of a grant from the Swiss Federal Ministry of International Affairs. It supports seniors who live alone under desperate conditions. The way a government treats its elderly is an indicator of its economic and democratic development. In Kyrgyzstan, numerous impoverished citizens, most of them elderly, resort to begging for money. Democracy has not done the elderly much benefit as the government simply ignores the elderly, leaving them alone in a terrible situation. Finally, there are NGOs that address social problems and help. The elderly represent one of the poorest sectors of the population. Most live alone in ramshackle houses or in tiny apartments using their inadequate pensions, that average between 200-300 soms (US$ 9), to fend for themselves confronting the lack of government attention and treating their medical ailments with expensive medications.

The Babushka Adoption Project finds foreign and domestic sponsors for seniors in need, a sponsoring process called "adoption." The sponsors pays US$ 10 each month to the account of the NGO and it gives the money to a senior in local cash. So far, forty elderly women and men have been adopted in Bishkek and in the Sulukta, Osh region. The executive manager of Babushka Adoption Project, Xenia Kirsanova, plans to help over 500 seniors throughout Kyrgyzstan over the next 2 years. Recently, she received over 600 profiles of seniors in need from Kyrgyzstan’s numerous social organizations that fail to help the elderly as a result of the economical crises in the country.

The elderly have lost their trust in government and the world around them. Many elderly do not use electricity because it is too expensive. Many cannot afford to buy coal to cook food in a stove. A never before married 65-year-old woman named Raisa Kipkaeva is one such example of an adopted Babushka. She lives alone in a tiny dwelling attached to a house with space only for a bed and a stove. For many years she has been sick with chronic bronchitis. Her pension is 275 soms a month, insufficient to afford medicine and have enough remaining to buy food. When meeting with Babushka Adoption Project volunteers, the elderly often weep and tell how about the hopeless of their situation. Even those who receive aid for three or even four months cannot believe that somebody out there remembers and cares about them. The adopted elderly always ask what they can do for their sponsors, and express their gratitude to the sponsors by giving embroidery or some fruit they have grown..

The work of Babushka Adoption Project is very successful but there are also many challenges remaining. The most crucial is the problem of getting foreigners to trust the NGO with contributions. Knowing the corruptible nature of the post-Soviet system, contributors triple-check where their money goes. Babushka Adoption Project is now working on publishing booklets with all the information sponsors might need to quell their doubts. Another challenge is getting local wealthy individuals to help elderly war veterans, those very people who improved the lives of everyone through their service in World War II, who struggled to contribute during post-war years and believed in the future despite their hardships.

Anna Kirey, Student, Department of Journalism, American University—Krygyzstan