http://www.goneforawhile.ch

English: Kyrgyzstan - the ATIK Project
We have reached Osh in Kyrgyzstan. Osh is for us a very special milestone on our way as it is home of ATIK. ATIK - Appropriate Technology into Kyrgyzstan - is the development project of the mother organisation STLI which we are supporting through our "a cent for a kilometer" initiative.
We have taken the stop in Osh as an obvious opportunity to have a look at the project's work, understand their way of working and of course to convince ourselves that this is the kind of development work we find sensible: practical, ecological and not highflying over the heads of the ones in need but sustainable and in teamwork.

How can I donate?
You can commit yourself to donate a certain amount, e.g. 2 cents per kilometer that we cycle. Once we are in Beijing in roughly August 2009, we will be able to tell you how many kilometers we actually put behind us and will ask to follow up on your commitment and transfer the respective amount to the project. Today we think that our kilometers will total in roughly 13'000. By commiting to paying 2 cents for each kilometer this would result in about 260 Euros or USD respectively.

You can check the present kilometer standings here.

You can check the present dontation commitment standings here.

We will treat your personal data that you pass on to us in order to participate highly confidential and will not forward it on to third parties.

The reason we are doing this initiative is simple: Idealism and sympathy for the ATIK-project and Kyrgyzstan! 100% of the money that we generate will go to ATIK, nothing of it will end up in our pockets!

How will my money be used?
Kyrgyzstan is a very mountainous country with no natural ressources like oil or gaz. Furthermore, politics have - after the fall of the Soviet Union - not managed to lead the country away from communism to a dynamic economy with respective infrastructure and administration. Due to that, there is little work for the people now. And if there is, it is utterly badly paid. A lot if not all of the money that flows into the country disappears in the pockets of the 'big guys in charge', the simple Kyrgyz man or woman never feels any of it.
ATIK is working with the slogan "develop the people to develop their country". This means, ATIK is educating people to improve their standard of living with help of the simple but available means. They do this for example by supporting people when they are building houses ("passive solar house"). ATIK consults and helps hands-on in the process of planning and constructing, showing how simple improvements can reduce construction and maintenace costs drastically. Or how a house can be designed in order to have the sun helping keeping it warm, how to insulate walls and roofs efficiently, how the traditional ovens can be improved (firewood is valuable!) and so on. Or they teach people how to build very simple water pumps which - with not much more than a piece of hose and a few metal profiles - can pump up to 60 tons of riverwater a day to a house 40 meters higher up. In a country with no working water network, where people still carry water in buckets to their houses, a hugh improvement! Furthermore, ATIK shows people how use the dung of their animals, mostly cows, sheep, chicken, horses and donkeys to produce with simple constructions biogaz, thus reducing their gaz bill drastically.
One of the major criteria for the used technologies is: all used material must be easily accessible on the local bazaar. There is no need for expensive import of goods or experts, the people of Kyrgyzstan are building the technology with the help of ATIK themselves and in this way become experts on the field!
Of course we also had the chance to meet the ATIK people themselves. Swiss, New Zealanders, South Africans, Englishmen, Americans that work with great Idealism. They work as volunteers and support their costs of living mostly themselves, they don't get a salary! Also important for us: ATIK does not purchase BMWs and Landrover Jeeps to get their workers to the sites like other organisations sometimes do. Either the personal car or the local buses and shared taxis are used.
The donated money will go to salaries for the local, kyrgyz employees, to the organisation of workshops and courses where kyrgyz people are educated and to the development of new, appropriate technologies. A max of 10% of the money will be used for project administration!

More about ATIK, their work and also Kyrgyzstan can be found on their website. We also took some pictures of their work which can be found in the Picture section of this website. We would be very happy if you would commit a donation for ATIK and thus for the people of breathtakingly beautiful Kyrgyzstan!
 
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