Avalanches, Concept Papers--life is busy.

Ever pack 6 bodies into a four seater for a 14 hour ride over some of the world's highest and most treacherous mountains? Ahh, well you're smarter than me. I went to Bishkek via taxi on Thursday to represent the Osh Oblast volunteers' in the bi-annual VAC (Volunteer Action Committee) meeting. I entered the cab at 7:00 AM and arrived in Bishkek at 9:30PM. Highlights of the ride: waiting for an avalanche to be cleared from the road; exiting the car to push it up and over slick icy patches; having a 250 pound Kyrgyz man recline directly onto my knees--Ouch! As exciting as the trip up to Bishkek was, the flight home (Peace Corps paid for the flight back, ostensibly for safety reasons) was less eventful and ummmm...less painful. While a Russian Yak-40 may not boast the same safety record as Boeing or Airbus, it sure beat the knee-breaking, nail-biting ride up north.

Works been busy. My organization is currently hoping to make it to the second tier of a USAID application process (which, if realized) would allow HRDC's legal clinic to continue providing free legal aid to Southern Kyrgyzstan's indigent population. Currently, our 4 legal clinics are funded by a branch of OSCE, however, that funding is scheduled to expire in June.

Other news: over the last few weeks several volunteers from Jalalabad Oblast have been medically separated or have made the difficult choice to ET (Early Terminate). I had the honor of meeting and getting to know most of these volunteers. They will be missed greatly by their K12 compatriots. Good luck and please don’t forget about us over here.

New elections seem to have been postponed until July 10th, 2005.

That’s the news.

Take care,

Larry Tweed