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Asel Imankulova, who is Kyrgyz, was born in 1928 in Ak Bashat, a village near Kara Balta, Kyrgyzstan. She worked for much of her life as a collective farmer. “Russian people lived separately from Kyrgyz people, because the Kyrgyz were afraid of the Russians…When children did not obey their parents, the parents would frighten them by saying that the Russians would come and take them away,” she recalled. Maksat Nepesov interviewed her in Ak Bashat on March 20, 2009.

Before I was married, I didn’t see anything special. That was the war period, a time of hunger when my parents worked hard to support our family. I want to say that what I and many people saw at that time – I don’t wish it on anybody to see the times like that.

During the war, many people did not study – including me. I did not have any opportunity to study, because I was watching my younger siblings. I studied only until the fourth grade. My parents often were not at home and I had to dress and feed the children and send them to school.

My parents worked as farmers and also grew food for themselves. My father worked in the fields and my mother worked in the fields – they grew beets. They worked day and night.

At that time, there were programs, such as building the BCC [Big Chui Canal] to build socialism and that is why my parents were torn away from their children, because they had to fulfill [work] plans and so they had to work day and night.

When my parents weren’t around, I had to look after the younger children, so I didn’t really have a childhood. I didn’t play games. I basically helped around the house, milking cows, dragging buckets of water. I can describe one of the days of my childhood: I woke up at seven in the morning – or, sometimes, I woke up at six in the morning – and then took care of the children. At the time, my parents didn’t let me go anywhere because I was a young girl and it was not decent – it was considered a sign of bad upbringing – for me to go somewhere or go for a walk. In my youth, I basically embroidered things and spun threads. I embroidered clothes for the children with different flowers and ornaments.

I think that our family was strong. Much depends on relationships – from a good, strong word, it sometimes happens that people get angry, but even if someone shouts at you, it is necessary to keep silent and it is necessary to relate to each other warmly, with respect and, of course, love.

Now, in comparison with early times, many things have changed: the roles of the man and the woman in a family – everything has changed. If, in the Soviet period, the man was the head of the family, the supporter of the family, now, on the contrary, in many families, if he has money he spends it on drinking instead of bringing it home to the family. And now women earn more money, save it, and spend it on necessary things.

In my family my parents always worked and on weekends they tried to do all the things around the house that had piled up all week – that was how they rested. Certainly, there were also moments when they drank kumys [fermented mare’s milk] and played music. But we didn't have entertainment, not like now. Sometimes we would go to see singers or actors who came; they were paid by the collective farm.

We worked a lot in the fields and raised crops, but there were lots of problems, different natural factors and many things that didn’t depend on us. If there was a crop, it was good and if there was not, it was bad and we received help from the state. Also, in the Soviet period anything that was necessary – for example, different tinned products – which we could not grow, we could buy with our salaries.

The road to Susamyr and beyond [the road from Bishkek to Osh] was under construction and, at that time, roads were built by hand. People did everything manually. During that same period, the BCC was also being built. I often went away to help with construction and worked for 2-3 months.

During the war we did not see any tanks or fighting, but we felt the war. We prepared certain products for the war and, from early childhood, I worked to support the soldiers. We sewed and sent gloves, socks, and butter to the front.

We didn’t have enough food. Sometimes we had to skip meals. For example, after harvesting the crops, when there was some wheat left in the fields, we collected it and we wanted to eat it but, since there were children, we gave it to them, instead.

Certainly, sometimes we had good days. For example, when there were holidays, we dressed up, went out walking, feasted, and then went home. From our village, we went to Kara Balta by foot, and that was our entertainment.

The first tractor appeared [in our village] in 1943. Sometimes I drove a tractor myself. Certainly, the arrival of tractors had a strong effect on agriculture. Earlier, people plowed fields with the help of bulls. But with the appearance of tractors, it became easier to plow fields and people had more free time.

I married for love when I was 16 years old. My mother-in-law was very good person and she treated me kindly, like a daughter. Our village was small and we all knew each other and my future husband knew about me because, in the village, I had a good reputation as a decent, young girl. Before we got married, I saw him only 5-6 times. When we got married, he was 20 years old.

Let me tell you about our food: in the 50s and 60s and, in general, after World War II, we ate manty, lagman, and beshbarmak. [1] Now everyone eats with dishes and salads and so on. Earlier, we simply fried meat and put it on two plates on the table. Now all the products we have, we grow ourselves and store in cellars and sometimes, when we don't have anything, we go to the market. Earlier, food was more delicious and nutritious than now – for example, now when we make lagman from leftover meat – and when we ate it we had much more energy than, for example, my daughter-in-law does now.

By religion, I'm a Muslim. I believe in God, but I don't pray and never go to mosque, because I am already old and it is hard for me to move. But, in my family I have people who do all these things. My grandson prays and goes to mosque. I think it’s good, because people who pray will never begin to drink and smoke, and alcoholism and smoking are serious problems now, especially among youth. When I was young, I did not know anybody who prayed, because in the Soviet period, there was no time for that. We had cattle and other matters that we had to take care of from morning until evening.

I speak one language: Kyrgyz. I know a little Russian but I can’t speak it. It was not necessary for me to learn it, because all the people around me spoke Kyrgyz so there was no need to learn another language. Russian people lived separately from Kyrgyz people, because the Kyrgyz were afraid of the Russians. We were afraid because, in 1916, during World War I, Russians collected people to serve as soldiers for the war. In Kyrgyzstan, from the Chui and Issyk-Kul areas everyone ran away to China. [2] This stayed in the people’s mentality and they were afraid of Russians until World War II or even longer. When children did not obey their parents, the parents would frighten them by saying that the Russians would come and take them away. Russians grew tomatoes and when they ate them, people said that they drank blood. Now we have mixed and got used to each other.

My husband died 20 years ago [in 1989]. I have three children: two daughters and one son. My oldest daughter lives in Tokmok and she already has a husband and children. My second daughter lives in Kara Balta. And, my son, by tradition, lives with me, because he is my only son. He has four children: two girls and two boys. He also has a tractor and uses it to harvest hay, which is the basic source of income for the family.

And now, times have became more difficult. The pension at the present time is 1,200 som [per month – about $28]. That is very little. It’s not even enough for a bag of flour, which costs 1,500 som. I grow many products myself, but the things that I do not grow, I have to buy at the market. My basic income comes from my children, but sometimes it happens that they don’t have money. My pension is so small that it is not enough for medicine and medical treatment. After all, I’m already old, and I have health problems. I have a limp and I think it is because I spent a lot of time standing. For about 15 years, I worked as a milkmaid and went around in rubber boots and dragged buckets of milk. It is very insulting for me that in my youth I worked for the good of the state and now they give me such a small pension.